


Dawn

by TLotiel



Series: Zyr [1]
Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Assassins, Attempted assassination, Betrayl, Dawn Palace, F/M, Fantasy, Kings and Queens, Magic, Medieval Fantasy, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Fiction, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Pacifia, Pacifia vs Xaviel, Romance, Royalty, Spy - Freeform, Traitor, War, World of Zyr, Xaviel, Zyr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2020-03-09 19:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 38,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TLotiel/pseuds/TLotiel
Summary: The Pacifia Kingdom is on the verge of collapsing.A neighbouring ruler wants to conquer Pacifia and make it his own. The Queen Mother is urging for the King of Pacifia to find a noble bride so there is an heir if there is to be a war. There are not enough soldiers to protect the land and the King's Council is slowly becoming more corrupt.When a woman tries to persuade the King's Council to let women vote, she is surprised to be summoned to the palace. She is subsequently dragged into a whirlwind of royalty, rights and romance as she becomes a friend of King Louis.





	1. Letters

As he walked in, he could feel the tension. Nervous glances were exchanged as Louis sat at the head of the table. There were no empty seats, unlike the previous days when Louis himself was too ill to attend.  
“Your Majesty, we are thankful you are well again.” Lord Percival Moore. He sat tall, always proud of having a seat on the King’s Council.  
“Indeed.” A rather roundish man spoke up, a crude drawing of overlapping ovals and circles which had come to life.  
“Thank you, Lord Moore and Sir Oddo,” said Louis. The corners of his mouth lifted to form a smile. “I’m glad to be back, I hope you and your families are all well but I have something I wish to speak to you about.”

The men all nervously glanced to each other as if they were preparing for bad news, some sort of storm.  
“Is it your mother again, Your Majesty?” asked Sir Oddo as he nudged the clearly uncomfortable treasurer sat on his left. Moore gave the man a glare before turning to their king.  
“Ignore him, Your Majesty,” said Moore. “What is it you wish to discuss?”

“Firstly - and it is concerning my mother, Sir Oddo - I am to be wed within the year to stay true to this land’s laws concerning monarchs. She suggests I invite some women to the palace,” said Louis as he tried to hide his annoyance with the law. He pushed his hair out of his eyes, there were a few brown strands that wouldn’t stay tied back.  
“What has this got to do with anything?” asked Lord Rowan as they rolled their eyes.  
“You’ll see,” said Louis before continuing. “The second thing is that a servant gave me a letter one evening with my meal. They claimed it had been opened.”

“Was it by any chance a letter by a Miss Arlea Laurel?” wondered Moore.  
“Oh!” exclaimed Oddo with a laugh. “It’s that bitch who thinks she's someone!”  
“Excuse me?” Louis’ voice was harsh and cold but it had stopped the knight from laughing. “You must be blind then, Sir, for Miss Laurel made some reasonable points.”  
“I believe I had to read it out to the council, Your Majesty” said Lord Moore. “To save time and because some members refused to acknowledge the letter.”  
“Please stop with the formality, Lord Moore,” said Louis. “But why was she dismissed?”  
“She’s just one woman, she’s not going to change anything,” said Sir Oddo. 

The King gritted his teeth and turned to look at the man directly in his eye. The knight hated when his ideas were outvoted or easily dismissed by contradictory information yet he was dismissing the woman without even reading her letter.  
“One general can change the outcome of a war, Sir Oddo.”  
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, you have never been in war.”  
“And you have never been in this woman’s position.”

“Sir,” started Lord Moore with a knowing smile on his face. He seemed to have figured it out. “This woman, do you think you should invite her to the palace under the guise of trying to find a wife?”  
“That’s why he brought up his mother,” muttered Rowan. The other two councillors had barely said a word, one - Lord Rivers - was too anxious to speak up in defence of Miss Laurel by the irritated expression and glower aimed at the former general. The other, Sir Rattlebird, had a straight face, as usual.  
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Moore. “It would certainly please your mother.” Louis nodded.

“Do you all agree that she can come in and listen in and take part in at least one of our council meetings?” asked Louis. His brown eyes looked around the table. Moore nodded, so did Lord Rowan and Lord Rivers. Sir Oddo looked as if he had just had his scraggly beard sawed off which he had proudly declared as something beautiful. It was only by his own standards, however, as the rest of the council disliked it.  
“It may be a great idea,” Sir Rattlebird said while looking through their dark, side-swept fringe. “It might give us some insight but it might also disrupt things, we have a lot of work to do now you’re back, Your Majesty. With Xaviel maybe trying to push at our borders, we can’t afford to have distractions.”  
“They’re outnumbered,” Rowan pointed out. Louis glanced at him but stayed silent.  
“Then the King’s Council has made its decision. Miss Laurel shall sit in on a few of our sessions should she accept the invite.” 

Other matters had been settled, boring affairs of taxes and petty cattle arguments which Lords should have dealt with but only escalated. Finally, Louis could sit in the small secluded study, away from the ignorance of Sir Oddo, the oddly neutral Sir Rattlebird and the always encouraging Lord Moore. As the tall royal sat at his desk, he sighed and leaned forward. He picked up the quill of a large bird of prey - he wasn’t sure which one but the feather was brown and striped - and dipped it into the dark blue ink before beginning to write a letter in response to Miss Arlea. 

_Dear Miss Laurel,_

_It was a pleasure to hear your opinions and read through some well-made points which you had eloquently presented in a letter rudely ignored by my council. After confronting them, I discovered it was down to ignorance and hope that you would be able to meet with me to arrange a date where you could be at one, possibly more than one, of the King’s Council meetings._

_Hopefully, you will be able to come to the Dawn Palace to meet with me at 2pm this Friday. I will send a carriage to your address. If you do not wish to meet or cannot meet, simply tell the coachman and we can arrange another time through further letters, that is, if you wish to meet at all._

_I wish all the best for you and those you love, I look forward to meeting you soon or reading your response._

_King Louis I Fredrick._  

After Louis wrote the address of the house on the other side of the letter, he sealed the letter with the King’s seal using orange wax and left it upon his desk.

* * *

 

“This letter must be hand delivered to this address, do you understand?” he asked the servant. The boy nodded, he wasn’t very old but Louis had been told the boy knew every street and alley in the city and the quickest way to get anywhere. “What’s your name?”  
“Lewis, sir,” he said with a proud smile. “Me mother gave me that name.”  
“It is a wonderful name,” said Louis with a smile. “Thank you, Lewis, stay safe.”  
“I will, sir, thank you.” The boy slipped it into a slightly shabby-looking bag. If it looked royal, something was bound to happen to the innocent child and Louis didn’t want to be the cause of that. Lewis then rushed off through the back entrance of the palace and disappeared from view. Hopefully, the boy would be safe and deliver the letter.


	2. Hot Cocoa

Pacing back and forth, Louis anxiously awaited the arrival of his guest. He thought it was silly for a king to worry over such a small thing yet he still worried nonetheless. Miss Laurel might not have even agreed to come to the palace and he was still nervous.

One of the palace’s many page boys walked over to him and Louis halted his pacing.  
“Sir, Miss Laurel is waiting in-”  
“Thank you, Marc, she’ll be in the drawing room where the guests usually are, I assume?” he said, interrupting the boy. “Apologies for interrupting.”  
“It’s fine, sir,” said the boy as they beamed up at him.

As quick as he could, Louis headed down the main stairs, startling the guards near the front entrance. His boots clicked on the wooden floor as he kept to one side of the rug, knowing he’d only move it out of place if he walked on it. Louis did not feel like having someone lecture him about the importance and the history of the rug. A guard opened the door to the drawing room and Louis walked, wondering what Miss Laurel looked like. Another guard stood inside the room.

Sitting on a wooden chair with red velvet cushions, was a thin woman with a heart-shaped face. Her blue eyes looked at him, filled with curiosity, and stayed fixed on him as she stood. Her right foot moved behind her left as she curtsied.  
“Good afternoon, Miss Laurel,” he greeted as he walked over to the short woman.  
“Good afternoon, Your Majesty,” she politely said back. She spoke softly and just loud enough for him to hear.  
“I believe you sent a letter addressed to my council, yes?”  
“Yes, sir,” she said, a little louder this time. He noticed her fingers wrap around a tiny loose thread on her blue dress.

Louis paused for a moment before walking over to the seat opposite where she was sitting. She hurried to sit down and then pushed her fringe out of her face.  
“I would like to discuss it later, however,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”  
“Not at all, Your Majesty.” She seemed nervous as her eyes glanced around the room, just as nervous as he was.

“In that case, would you like a drink? Maybe something to eat?” Louis asked, hoping she would say yes so he could get to know her a bit better.  
“That would be nice, sir.”  
“Please, don’t call me sir or ‘Your Majesty’ if there is no need to. We are not in public,” said Louis as he turned to the guard. He was certain the woman was not going to harm him, especially considering how anxious she seemed to even speak without addressing him properly. “Do you have to stand there?”  
“It’s for your safety, Your Majesty.”

Louis sighed as he stood and straightened his clothes. Spotting a tray with a kettle and a few cups on, he walked over to it and gently touched the kettle with the back of him hand. Immediately, he pulled his hand away. The water was still hot enough to burn.  
“Do you like hot cocoa, Miss Laurel?” he asked as he made himself a cup. He noticed a small bowl of marshmallows and smiled to himself. “We have marshmallows too.”  
“That sounds lovely,” she said, cutting herself off before she could add ‘sir’ to the end.

He began making her a cup while he waited for his own to cool down. After dropping a few marshmallows into the cup, he carefully handed it to her. She held it in both hands and quietly thanked him before taking a sip.  
“This tastes wonderful, I haven’t had it in so long,” she said. Louis frowned for a moment, he probably knew why she hadn’t drunk it in so long: it was imported from another kingdom. Imported goods were always more expensive.  
“It does,” he agreed before drinking his own. The hot liquid burned his tongue a little but he didn’t mind as he carried on drinking it anyway.

Louis placed his cup down on a table and realised that they should probably discuss the letter she sent before the council meeting started.  
“I was ill lately,” he started. She watching him intently, scared to mishear even a simple word. “So I was unable to attend any meetings and you letter addressed to the council was opened in one of those meetings. One of the servants found the letter on the floor, not filed away and I confronted them which is why you were invited to the meeting.”  
“Thank you for inviting me, you didn’t have to.”

“You see, when my mother announced I had to be wed before the end of the year, she suggested inviting some women to the castle. It was my opportunity to meet you and make my mother happy. Of course, it’s not for the purpose she believes unless… well…” Louis trailed off and uncomfortably cleared his throat. It felt weird inviting her to the palace as a potential bride, even if she was polite and seemingly kind. “My point is, that was my chance to invite you here and let you speak to the council.”  
“I’m glad you invited me but why would they listen to me if they didn’t care about the letter?”  
Louis smiled. “Because they’re more likely to listen if you are standing in front of them.” The short woman sipped her drink again as she listened. “Some people are just like that, I suppose.”  
“I suppose so.”

After finishing his cup hot chocolate, Louis placed the empty cup back on the tray and offered to take Arlea’s mostly empty cup from her. She handed it over and stood while he placed it on the tray. He offered his arm to Arlea and she carefully linked arms with him.  
“Shall we go to the meeting? We’ll be a little early but it will show them up slightly,” said Louis with a grin. It would serve them right for being so dismissive, even if the majority agreed when he asked, clearly they held differing opinions when he wasn’t there.  
“If you want to.”

The guards held open the wooden doors for them as they left the drawing room. One of the guards followed them as Louis guided her through the halls of the palace. He noticed how distracted she was by the paintings of his ancestors on the walls and the elaborate rugs on the floor. Slowly his pace, he allowed her to take in her surroundings.  
“The palace is beautiful,” she whispered as she looked at him. He nodded in agreement. He was used to the boring halls of the palace, always staying the same to preserve history. Nothing ever changed but to someone who didn’t live in the palace, he supposed it did look pretty.

They headed through a small courtyard and walked on the gravel path and around the water fountain. The fountain was multiple levels of stone and water would usually cascade from down when the level had too much water. Currently, the fountain was not active as the heat had dried up a lot of the water. They headed inside on the opposite side of the courtroom and walked through a set of open doors that lead to the inside of the palace. They passed through another set of doors, ones that had intricate decorations.

The room was empty, there were six chairs around a rectangular table. The rest of the room was barely decorated, save for a map on the wall and two suits of armour near the doors. At the head of the table was a chair with a taller back, it had polished stones set in it. The King’s chair.  
“Where shall I sit?” she asked. Louis bit his lip for a moment before gesturing to the right of his seat.  
“Guests sit on the right of the king,” he said. Arlea nervously sat in the seat to the right of where Louis would sit. Louis took his seat only moments after Arlea and let out a sigh. “Now we wait.”


	3. Don't Shoot The Messenger

As the council members took their place, they each greeted the King with a short bow before taking their seat. A man with mostly dark hair - parts were grey - sat on her right and greeted her with a friendly smile. Lord Moore. The man opposite her had walked in with whoever he was sitting on the right of. Both of them had ash blond hair and light green eyes and were almost silent, Lord Rowan and Lord Rivers. Sir Rattlebird was the next to arrive as they took the last seat at the table.  
“Is Sir Oddo joining us today?” asked Lord Moore.  
“He has sent no letter or messenger to say he is not,” said Louis.

When Sir Oddo finally arrived - ten minutes later than he should have - he immediately noticed his seat was taken by Arlea.  
“Why is there a woman in my seat?” he asked rather loudly. Louis looked to him.  
“The guests sit to the right of the King, do they not?” he said coldly, glad to see the knight be humbled slightly as he had to ask the guards to bring in an extra chair. Louis wondered why his father had ever knighted the brash idiot.

Everyone was finally seated when Sir Oddo took his seat at the far corner or the table between the council’s two quietest members. Louis stood to formally introduce their guest.  
“I’d like to formally introduce and welcome Miss Arlea Laurel to our council meeting today. I’m sure Miss Laurel will provide a valuable perspective and some eloquent advice.” Arlea smiled and nodded her head. Her fingers were pulling at the loose thread on her dress again.  
“I’m glad you could make it, Miss Laurel,” said Lord Moore as he bowed his head slightly.  
“Thank you,” she said quietly with a smile.

“Shall we start, Your Majesty?” asked Lord Rowan.  
“Yes, yes,” said Louis, realising that if they never started, they would never talk about the important topics there were there to discus in the first place. “The first one, our border with Xaviel.”  
“Have you sent out messengers?” asked Lord Rowan.  
“We did, Lord Rowan,” said Lord Moore. Louis nodded in agreement.  
“Apparently Xaviel doesn’t understand the phrase ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ as every one of them has been shot with several arrows. The last one died, we cannot send any more.” Louis pushed a few strands of hair back, ones that wouldn’t stay in the hair tie.

“We have to find another solution then,” said Rivers with a shrug. It was odd for them to speak up. “Perhaps putting some more guards along the border?” Louis turned towards River and raised his eyebrows.  
“That would mean taking soldiers away from castles.”  
“But it would protect the border,” said Lord Moore, agreeing with Rivers. “If the border is protected, the castles wouldn’t need much protection.”  
“Sir Rattlebird, would you see to it that some of the soldiers in castles closer to where the attacks from Xaviel are, that the soldiers are told to camp along the border there,” said Louis. His face was scrunched up, he didn’t want to move the soldiers but he couldn’t see any other options.

“What about the second thing?” asked Oddo, the bitter tone clear in his voice.  
“Yes,” Louis said, narrowing his eyes at the knight. “Women’s right to vote. I believe Miss Laurel might have a few things to say about this. Miss Laurel?”  
“Thank you, sir.” She cleared her throat and sat up  little straighter before speaking. “I think women should be able to vote on laws because they affect us too. We make up just over half of the population, I feel like the majority should be able to have a say in what happens to them.”

Louis found himself smiled as she repeated some of the points that she had made in her letter which most of the council had elected to ignore.  
“Miss Laurel, I don’t mean to be rude but…” Rivers trailed off. “If it was so important, why haven’t people brought it up before?”  
“People have,” said Arlea coldly. Clearly, she held some hatred towards the council in general. “And every time, they have been ignored. The council for the King before this one only acknowledged it because a woman wrote it under a man’s name. They then decided the handwriting was too feminine.”  Arlea had paused, looking to King Louis to see if he would say anything. She had insulted his father and his father’s council. Louis said nothing, the insult didn’t bother him.  
“Too feminine?” repeated Lord Rowan. “That sounds incredibly stupid of them to assume that based on their handwriting.”  
“Exactly.” Arlea looked satisfied with the reactions of the council.

“How are we even supposed to change it anyway?” asked Sir Oddo. “It could be a massive failure.”  
“We could start with this city,” said Rattlebird, speaking up and raising his voice to drown out Oddo who was sat next to him. “If it doesn’t work, it won’t affect the entire country. If it does work, we could apply it to the rest of the country.”  
Louis looked around to see the reactions of the other council members. Most of them were neutral. “Then it’s decided, we can do that,” he said. No one protested even though Oddo looked as if he was going to burst a blood vessel in his forehead. “When is the next vote?”  
“A month’s time, sir,” said Rowan. “Your address to the public is before that, a week before, I believe.”  
“That’s the vote on the fishing, yes?” asked Louis. Rivers and Sir Rattlebird nodded. “I guess we shall see how that turns out then.”

“Is this meeting over then, Your Majesty?” asked Sir Oddo, his face was an odd reddish purple colour.  
“We still have another matter to address,” said Lord Moore before Louis even could consider answering. “A female knight was chosen as the King’s personal guard. She is currently not here as per the council’s rules but we still need to consider how effective she is as your guard. The council did agree to look over it.” Louis nodded, remembering the meeting.  
“I believe Nalia has been effective as a guard so far. I have not been hurt.”  
“Yet,” Sir Oddo added.

“Well thankfully there has been no situations where she has needed to harm any attackers,” said Louis through gritted teeth. He was sick of Sir Oddo’s ignorant and baseless opinions. “But if a situation occurs where she is needed to risk her own health for mine, I assure you she will do so, Sir Oddo.”  
“Can you guarantee it?”  
“Sir Oddo,” Arlea said softly. She had a soft voice, one which was soothing and nice to listen to even if Arlea was a little too quiet at times. “I am certain you cannot guarantee anyone would risk their life for another. You cannot guarantee any male guard would do so therefore there is no reason to hold her to a higher standard.”  
Louis smiled as Sir Oddo stuttered but couldn’t manage to form a sentence. “Is there anything else?”  
“No, Your Majesty,” said Lord Rivers. Thankful, Louis stood and the other council members rose to their feet. Arlea quickly copied them.

“In that case, thank you all for attending today’s session. The next session is in three days time at the usual time. Miss Laurel will be in attendance again if there is no opposition to that, and if she wishes to attend, of course,” he said, looking over at the woman. She smiled and nodded with red cheeks. “King’s Council session had ended, I wish you all safe travels.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos so far! :)


	4. No Need For Formality

Louis escorted Arlea through the manor to the side entrance once all of the council members had left, he didn’t want to risk an awkward conversation with any of them. He had already asked the stables to get horses ready for the carriage which would take Arlea home so hopefully it wouldn’t take too long now.

When they reached the side entrance and the carriage which waited there, Louis paused and turned to Arlea.  
“It has been a pleasure talking to you today,” he said with a smile. Arlea seemed like nice company so far. “I hope you weren’t too offended by some of the views certain council members hold.”  
Smiling, she shook her head. “No, not at all.”

He smiled and took her hands in his own. “I’d like it if you called me Louis, I don’t see any need for any form of formality.” Her hands were a little colder than his own, probably because she was wearing a dress with a shawl while he was wearing a jacket.  
“Are you sure?” she asked with a shy smile.  
He nodded. “Absolutely.”

A horse which was growing impatient neighed and Louis looked over to it. He realised the carriage must have been waiting a while if the horses were growing restless. “You should probably get going, when would you next be free?”  
“Not for the council meeting?” she asked, furrowing her brow.  
“If you don’t mind,” said Louis, hoping Arlea wouldn’t mind either. He wanted to get to know her and be friends. “Do you want to come to the next council meeting?”  
“If I’m not intruding.”  
“Of course not,” he said a little too eagerly. “The council don’t mind you being there.” Or, at the very least, didn’t voice their disdain for her presence at the meeting too much or in front of him.   


“Then I would like to,” she said. After a few moments, she smiled a little. “I’m free in two days time in the afternoon, same time as today.”  
“Then I would be glad to have you over,” he said with a grin, almost shaking from excitement. He felt like a child. “I can send a carriage again, if you’d like.”  
“I don’t mind,” she said, blushing a little. Nodding Louis decided he would send her a carriage. There were beautifully decorated with embroidered silk cushions and velvet seats.

“Thank you, again,” he said which made her blush turn a deeper shade of red.  
“I should thank you too, Louis.” He smiled as she used his name, he felt ridiculous but it was rare for anyone to use his name anymore. “I’ll see you in a few days?”  
“Of course.” He lifted her hand up and brushed his lips over her knuckles. “Farewell, Miss Laurel.”  
“If I call you Louis, then I insist you call me Arlea,” she said with a teasing smile as he helped her up the steps of the carriage. The guards could do it but he’d rather do it himself.  
“In that case,” he said, unable to stop himself from smiling wider, “farewell, Arlea.”  
“Farewell, Louis.”

The carriage door shut and a few moments later, it began moving out of the gates which he hadn’t realised had been opened. When the carriage had disappeared behind the palace walls to take Arlea home, Louis found himself watching the gates close with a stupid grin on his face.


	5. Abanao Bread

Louis hurried after the tall woman in armour. “Nalia!” he called after her. The tall woman immediately stopped and turned, bowing her head. Louis stopped close to her and sighed. “How many times have I told you, you don’t need to do that.”  
“Sorry,” she muttered quietly. Thankfully, she didn’t add ‘sir’ on the end of it. “Do you need something?”  
“I was perhaps wondering,” said Louis with an excited grin as he remembered what he stopped his guard for. “Well, I was wondering if you’d escort myself and a… friend to the markets. Later today.”  
“The markets?”  
Nodding, Louis stepped a little closer to the woman. “If Arlea agrees of course, she might not want to and that’s perfectly fine.”  
“Why would you go down to the markets?” she asked, furrowing her brow. Turning a little red, Louis rubber the back of his neck.  
“I was thinking…” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “I was thinking I could buy her something.” Nalia raised her eyebrows at the man before smiling.

“I am bound to you by duty but it would be my pleasure to escort you with your friend to the markets later today.” She smiled and Louis would hug her if she was more comfortable with hugging. He realised she also had armour on so the hug would have been a bit painful for him.  
“Thank you,” he said honestly. “You know I’d rather ask you that force you to.”  
“I know what I signed up for,” she said. “It is my duty.” Smiling, Louis looked up at her, she was taller than him.

Hearing another guard call his name, his smile widened a little and he hurried to greet his guest. He didn’t want to seem too eager but at the same time, he couldn’t keep her waiting; that would be a rude thing for him to do.

Louis greeted her at the entrance to the Dawn Palace. He wished he could have opened the door but even if he was there, his guards wouldn’t let him. They couldn’t risk any assassins, especially with the rising tensions. He was surprised his guards would even let him go to the markets with Arlea and only Nalia as his guard. Nalia would protect Arlea too, she would only favour Louis in drastic circumstances.

“I’m glad you could make it,” he said, offering out his arm. She linked arms with him and smiled.  
“I’m glad I could too.”  
“Would you like a drink? Maybe something to eat?” he offered. He couldn’t let her be thirsty or hungry, that would be impolite.  
“A little something to eat would be nice, thank you.”  
“It’s no problem,” he said as he began walking towards the kitchens. He was certain there was something she would like, the kitchens always had a ridiculous amount of food. He thought it was a waste but his mother kept ordering the cooks and servants to buy the food anyway.

It was always warmer near the kitchen, probably because of all the cooking food. A servant held the door open for them both and Louis thanked them.  
“Your Majesty, how can we help you?” asked a cook. There was two of them, the one that had spoken was quite tall with dark, plaited hair. She seemed a little surprised that Louis was with a woman.  
“My friend would like something to eat, could you make her something?” he asked. Louis noticed Arlea’s small smile as he called her his friend.  
“Certainly, sir,” she said. “What would Miss like to eat?”  
“I… I don’t really know,” Arlea admitted, glancing at the floor. Her cheeks turned a little red.  
“Do you like sweet things?” asked Louis. He knew he did so the kitchen always had something sweet for him.  
“I guess so, I don’t really eat them very often though,” she said with a shrug.

Louis knew exactly what he was going to ask the cooks for. He turned to the dark-haired cook to ask for the specific bread-like food and realised he couldn’t think of her name. Jennifer? Joy? Juliet? Juliet! That was her name.  
“Juliet, do we have any of the sweet bread... thing?” he asked. He grimaced at how badly he was explaining it. “The one I really like.”  
Juliet stared at him for a moment before realising what he was talking about and nodded. “Abanao bread. Yes, sir,” she said. “We always have some, you eat it quite a lot and so does Nalia.” Louis turned a little red but thanked the cook as she fetched some.

“What’s Abanao bread?”  
“It’s bread made from the Abanao crop, it’s like wheat and corn. Probably closer to corn, actually,” said Louis, rambling slightly. He’d asked similar things to the cooks and they had told him what it was.  
“Oh, I’ve never heard of it,” she said quietly.  
“How come? Did you go to school?” he asked, furrowing her brow. Her letters certainly reminded him of letters from Lords’ daughters but she didn’t seem like the daughter of any Lord, certainly not any he knew. As the King, he knew a lot of Lords, most of which wanted him to marry their daughters.  
“I was sick a lot as a child,” she said with a bit of a shrug. “So my Ma tried to teach me. She was good at reading and writing but… not much else.”

“What about your father?” he asked after a few moments. He’d feel a bit guilty if she didn’t have one for whatever reason.  
“He works a lot so… he couldn’t really help much.” Louis frowned a little bit and she noticed. “He’s a blacksmith.”  
“I see,” he said quietly. He wasn’t sure what to say.

Thankfully, Juliet came back with two small orange-ish buns. She handed one to Arlea who smiled and thanked the cook. The other was handed to Louis.  
“Thank you, Juliet. It’s appreciated, as always.”  
“No problem, sir,” said Juliet, bowing her head a little.  
“Shall we go somewhere else?” asked Louis. Which reminded him, he needed to ask if she wanted to go to the markets with him. Arlea nodded.

As the left the kitchen with food in hand, Louis nervously pulled at the sleeves of his red jacket. “Arlea, would you like to come to the markets later with me? Or, well, whenever, really.”  
“To the markets?” she repeated as she looked at the bread. She took a bite of it and Louis awaited her response. When she finished chewing and swallowed a mouthful, she spoke again. “Is that a good idea?”  
“I’ve gone before with Nalia, my personal guard when dealing with foreign visitors or people outside of the palace in general,” he explained, speaking a little too quickly. He noticed she had taken another bite and wondered if she liked it or just felt like she had to eat it because it was given to her. “Nalia is a good guard, she’s been with me to the markets, if you’re worried about that. Although, thankfully, nothing has happened before and hopefully nothing will happen if we go together today.” Although, knowing his luck, something would happen.

“I’m not really worried about that,” said Arlea with a small smile. “I’d like to come with you to the markets, although I might not be able to buy anything.”  
“Then I’ll buy you something,” he said.  
“I’ll feel bad, I don’t want you spending your money on me,” she said. Humming, Louis tried to think of some sort of middle ground. He could understand she’d feel a little bit guilty. He probably would too.  
“Then consider it a gift,” he said. “It can be as small or as large as you want but I’m getting you a gift.”  
Arlea turned a little red. “Okay then.”

“Do you like the bread?” he asked curiously.  
The brunette eagerly nodded. “Yes,” she said, smiling. “It is definitely sweet.”  
Louis smiled back. He felt like he always smiled when she was around, more than usual. She seemed to smile a lot too, she had a pretty smile.  
“Should we go and find your guard then?”  
Louis awkwardly laughed and nodded. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”


	6. Sun Strawberry

Louis and Arlea had linked arms as they walked side by side to the market. Nalia was on the other side of Louis, ready to protect him, not that there was much of a threat.

The market was in the city square not far from the palace. Colourful and bright with all of the fabrics and trinkets and fresh food, the market was a social place. Most people overlooked the guards stationed there to prevent trouble as they rarely had to get involved.  
“What do you think?” asked Louis, curious of her first impressions. Arlea looked a little overwhelmed but was smiling nonetheless.  
“There’s a lot of people.”  
Louis nodded, hopefully it wouldn’t be a problem. He didn’t mind large crowds but Arlea might. He should check. “Are you alright with that?”  
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile. “Do you have a favourite stall or anything?”  
“In fact, I do,” he said. Louis could take her to his favourite stall if she wanted. It was a good place to start, if nothing else. “Would you like to go to that stall?”  
“I’d love to.”

The three of them weaved through people, Louis held Arlea close, not wanting to let her get lost in the crowds. Nalia wasn’t too far behind, people parted for her since she was so tall and wearing armour.

They stopped in front of a fruit stall and it was clearly it was Louis’ favourite stall as Nalia immediately went up to the man running the stall to talk.  
“This is your favourite?” she asked.  
Smiling, Louis nodded. “It is, yes. The best fruit in the Capital comes from here, I swear it.”  
“Really?” She looked up at him and smiled. He watched her glance at the stall and look at all the fruits. She looked a little lost and confused at some of them. “I don’t even know half of these.”

Suddenly, Louis remembered that Arlea had been sort of home-schooled with her mother as a tutor. He had forgotten about her lack of knowledge of some things but he felt rude assuming she didn’t know anything.  
“You could try some, if you’d like. We’re not exactly short on money for it.” Even with the possibility of war, his father had been wise with the crown’s money right until he passed away, he had enough spare at the moment to buy his friend some food. “If you like it, I’ll buy you more.”  
“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” she said, immediately dismissing the notion. “I’d feel bad, it’s not my money.”  
“No, it’s not,” he said. Technically, it wasn’t his money either. “But as King, I do get to choose what to spend some of that money on. Maybe I want to spend some of it on you.”  
The brunette blushed. “If you insist.”

They both turned to look at the stall again and he noticed Nalia had finished speaking with the owner. “Is everything still going as normal?” he asked. The stall owner smiled and nodded and Nalia nodded to confirm. “Wonderful. Thank you, as always…” Peter? Pierre? Pedro? Pedro! “Pedro. I do have a favour to ask of you.”  
“Anything I can do, Your Majesty.” The man smiled and bowed his head, he had dark hair and tanned skin.  
“I would like to buy one of every fruit you have, perhaps more later,” he said.  
Pedro smiled and nodded. “As you wish, Your Majesty. How should I sort it out?”  
“If there’s anything she wants to try now, she can. We’ll deliver the rest to her house, is that alright with you both?” Arlea eagerly nodded as she stared at the fruit in the crates.  
“Yes, yes, perfectly fine, sir,” said Pedro with a smile. “Go ahead then.”

With a glance at Louis, Arlea picked up one of the fruits. It looked sort of like a peach but more orange in colour. She bit into it and was almost instantly surprised with how sweet it tasted. She took another bite of it, how did she not know this existed?  
“It’s sweet,” she said after finishing the second bite. “I like it, actually.”  
“It’s one of your favourites, isn’t it, Your Majesty?” said Pedro with a grin. Louis knew why he was grinning, he had just gain an extra customer by the sounds of it.  
“It is,” said Louis, nodding in agreement.

“What is it?” she asked before taking another bite out of it. The sweetness just seemed to explode on her tongue. “It’s delicious.”  
“A Sun Strawberry,” said Pedro with a grin. He could talk about this for hours if they let him. “It tastes more sweet the longer it grows in the sun.”  
“That’s brilliant,” she said quietly as she took another bite of the fruit. She seemed to love it as she took another bite after finishing that one.  
Louis smiled, watching her happy reaction. “Would you like some more of them? Just a few, if you’d like?”  
“Are you sure?” she asked. Louis realised she’d probably still feel bad but he nodded. If he brought her more sun strawberries, she could enjoy them and be happy for a while. “Thank you, Louis.”

He stepped a little closer to her as Nalia began talking to Pedro again. Louis realised how close he was standing to Arlea and bit his lip. She had a few strands of brown hair in front of her blue eyes. “Could I kiss you?”  
She stuttered for a few moments. “If you’d like to.”  
“It’s not about if I’d like to, I want to know if you want to,” he whispered. In that moment, Louis could care less about Nalia and Pedro’s conversation about the fruit delivery or how many people noticed he was the King of Pacifia, he wanted to kiss Arlea. Maybe her lips tasted as sweet as a sun strawberry.

Without any warning, Nalia tackled someone to the ground right beside them. Panicked, Louis drew his sword and parried a few swings from a second attacker while Nalia grappled with the first on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Pedro rush around his stall and pull Arlea to hide behind some barrels that the next stall over had.

Glad that Arlea was safe, Louis could focus on parrying and dodging attacks from the skilled assassin until hopefully some guards intervened.

It didn’t take long for a group of guards dressed in orange to swarm the assassin who was fighting Louis. By the time they had restrained him, Nalia had already taken care of the other one and had rendered them immobile by stabbing them in the shoulder with their own dagger. Both of them wore pendants with the sigil of Xaviel’s royalty on them.  
“Your Majesty, are you alright?” asked the Captain of the guards. Looking around, he nodded and stumbled over to Arlea. He was tired and he was certain he was going to get quite a few bruises forming soon.  
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” he mumbled. He needed to make sure Nalia was well and then Arlea. She might be scared, he knew he definitely was. Those assassins had been after him. “Nalia, are you alright?”  
“Yes, sir,” she said through her own heavy breathing. He nodded and headed towards the barrels where Arlea was making her way to him with a nervous-looking Pedro behind her.   


“Are you alright?” he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. She was quite a bit shorter than him.  
“I feel like it’s me who should be asking you that,” she said with a frown.  
“I’m a little scared,” he said truthfully.  
“A little?”  
“Maybe a lot, I’ve never had assassins sent after me before,” he said, chuckling a little. “None that I know of, at least.” He was certain assassinations had been planned before but the plans had never gotten anywhere close to being fulfilled.

When Louis had properly caught his breath, he turned to the stall owner. “Did you know anything about this, Pedro? Answer your king honestly,” said Louis. He had thought he had trusted this man and he hoped Pedro had no part in this.

Quickly, the man shook his head. “No, sir. I’d never wish any harm on you or anyone close to you.”  
Louis stared at the man for a moment, he looked terrified that it had happened by his stall. “You had no part in this?”  
Pedro shook his head again. “No, Your Majesty.” He was more formal that time and he looked horrified at the thought of helping the assassins.  
“The guards will question you further if they need to,” he said. Louis really did hope Pedro didn’t help the assassins, he seemed like a good man. He was kind and nice and ran Louis’ favourite stall.

“Louis, there’s a lot of people crowding round,” Arlea said quietly as she put her hand on his arm. Looking around, there was quite a large crowd forming and it hit him again that Arlea probably wasn’t used to crowds like this due to her upbringing.  
“We’ll go back to the palace.”


	7. Emergency King's Council Meeting

Louis was pacing in the council room as he waited for the council members to arrive. Surprisingly, Sir Oddo had arrived first and had taken his seat. Arlea was sitting in Louis’ chair, nervously pulling as a loose thread on the sleeve of her dress.  Sir Rattlebird had arrived next with Lord Rowan and Lord Rivers. The three of them took their seats and not long after, Lord Moore arrived.

“Sir, are you alright?” asked Rivers. He knew the answer but no one else seemed to want to speak.  
“No, I’m not. I could have died today if not for Nalia,” he said through gritted teeth.  
“Did the woman actually do something?” asked Oddo with a furrowed brow. It was like he couldn’t imagine Nalia actually doing her job.  
“Yes. But the real question is, why did she have to protect me at all? No one had even attempted to attack me in the markets before.” Louis spoke quickly as he paced back and forth. “I almost died today and here you are questioning my protector’s skill.”

“Your Majesty,” said Lord Rowan quietly. Louis turned to look at him. “Is your protector well?”  
“Yes, Nalia is fine,” said Louis. He was glad that someone had the decency to ask even if he didn’t use her name. “She’s being tended to by the healers. Thank you for asking, Lord Rowan.”

Louis had finally stopped pacing and stood by his chair, he was far too fatigued to carry on moving around so quickly. He could see Arlea’s worried face and immediately felt a pang of guilt. Was he worrying her?

“Your Majesty, as much as you may dislike the idea, we cannot discount the fact that all of this happened as soon as Miss Laurel visited.”

Louis looked over at Lord Moore, he did not like that suggestion at all. Arlea was kind and sweet and he wanted to believe she had nothing to do with it. The notion that she did have anything to do with it hadn’t ever occurred to him before.  
“Louis…” she said quietly, surprised that she could have been a suspect. “I would never, I couldn’t.”  
“It is convenient,” Sir Oddo said, staring at the young woman with cold eyes.  
“I’ll speak with her later,” said Louis. It probably wasn’t the best idea. If she was planning to assassinate him, she could do it when they were alone. “Right now, we have to figure out how they could do that in the first place.”

“Perhaps you need to increase the amount of guards in the markets every week,” Rivers suggested.  
“We can’t,” said Sir Rattlebird. “Any spare men have been sent off to the border to protect the country.”  
“Perhaps we could forbid weapons there then?” suggested Moore. Louis nodded; that seemed like the best option they had considering there weren’t enough guards at all.

“From now on, you will all be escorted here and to your homes with guards, I’m not risking any of you being targeted,” said Louis. He’d even give Miss Laurel a guarded escort home if he needed to but he wasn’t going to announce that to the council, they’d probably be furious with him. He did understand where they were coming from though. “The next meeting will continue as planned in two days time. The emergency King’s Council session is over, I hope you all have safe travels.”

One by one, the council members left. Except Lord Moore who had stayed for a little while longer. Arlea was still sat in his chair and Louis had taken to sitting on her left in Rowan’s seat.  
“Sir,” Moore started. “I’m glad Nalia is not too injured, she is a good protector. I’m incredibly thankful to the Gods for not letting you die today.”  
Louis just nodded, he did not believe in the Gods Moore spoke of but he respected the man’s beliefs. “Thank you.”  Lord Moore just nodded and smiled before leaving the room and Louis hoped nothing happened to the man. He was a great adviser, honest even if Louis didn’t like it.

He needed to take a few moments to organise his thoughts and words before he spoke to Arlea. As much as he didn’t want to think it was a possibility, he had to consider it. Had she set all of this up? Had she gained his trust to set up an assassination? Arlea was quite clever and good with words.

If he mentioned the Wizard would she get uncomfortable? Most people from Xaviel didn’t like the man, mostly because he wasn’t really a man. But some people from there hadn’t heard of him or didn’t care; it wouldn’t be accurate.  
“Arlea, I need you to be honest,” he started. “Lying to me would be a crime.” Lying to a King or Queen over such serious matters had always been a crime. “Did you know anything about this assassination attempt?”  
“No,” she said without hesitation. She shook her head as her fingers pulled at a loose thread on her sleeve. It was longer than before. “I knew nothing about it.”

Louis needed a way to verify it. He needed something. “Are you religious, do you believe in any gods of any kind?”  
She shook her head again, a few strands of her hair fell in front of her face. “No, I never have believed in any gods.”  
“Then swear it on your life,” he said. There were no gods to swear it to, her life was equally as good to swear it on. “Swear it on your life for me that you had no part in all of this, that you knew nothing.”  
“I swear it,” said Arlea. “I swear on my life that I knew nothing about the attempt on your life and that I took no part in it.”

Louis was silent for a moment as he watched her. He believed her. She swore it on her own life and she was still sitting before him, very much alive. “I am so sorry this happened today. You will still get your fruit.”  
“In truth, I’m not too bothered about the fruit,” she said honestly. “I’m just glad you weren’t too hurt, same with Nalia. She’s brilliant.”  
“She is,” he agreed. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.” She smiled a little, surprised he cared so much about her health when his own had been in such great danger.

“I should go home,” she said after a few moments of them just looking at each other. “I should explain to my parents what happened before they find out from someone else.”  
“Yes, yes,” he said. He understood that, he didn’t want her parents knowing rumours before they knew the truth. “Of course, I’ll send some guards to escort you home.”  
“Thank you, Louis.” She gave him a small smile and he smiled back. He would do all that he could to ensure she didn’t die on the way back to her home. But protecting her home, he couldn’t do. All available guards would be protecting him.


	8. Kind Words

Louis sat at his desk, a lot had happened in the past week and his head was still spinning from it all. Still, he needed to let Arlea know what was happening so he dipped his quill into the dark blue ink and began writing.

_ Dear Miss Laurel, _

_ I would like to apologise again for what happened at the markets and I would understand if you wanted no further part in this. You are still very welcome at the council meetings. However, the meeting has been delayed until Wednesday due to an incident involving Sir Oddo being injured in his home. _

_ If you would like to attend, I will send a guarded carriage to your house at 2pm on Wednesday. If you do not, simply tell the coachmen or reply and tell me soon. _

_ I hope you and your family are well, and I wish you and them all the best. I look forward to seeing you soon. _

_ King Louis I Fredrick. _

He sealed it with the same orange wax as before with the same seal, the King’s seal. Part of him hoped she rejected his invitation so she would be safer. She wouldn’t be involved with whatever was happening and Xaviel’s assassins would be less likely to choose her as a target. But there was a part of him that longed to see her again, to see her smile and look into her bright blue eyes.

He set the letter down on his desk and sighed. Louis would be able to ask Lewis to deliver it again, most people wouldn’t expect a little boy to be delivering messages for the king.

On Tuesday morning, Louis was pleasantly surprised as a letter was delivered to him. It was on the silver tray, tucked under the rim of a plate with fried eggs on. Even though the faintest scent of the food made his stomach twist with hunger, he was eager to read the letter. He looked at the handwriting on the front of it, it seemed to be Arlea’s but he wasn’t entirely sure.

There was only one way to find out.

Louis was far too impatient to get out of bed to fetch his letter opener. Instead, he carefully tore open the envelope and pulled out the folded letter. A smile spread across his face as he read and reread it.

Arlea was coming to the palace tomorrow.

He could hardly believe what he had read, it was amazing! She still wanted to attend the meetings and maybe spend time with him even though it risked her safety to do so.

* * *

Louis was not allowed to greet Arlea at the gates. He understood why, how risky it could be, but it still irritated him. Instead, he had to settle for greeting her once she had entered the palace’s doors. As soon as the huge wooden door shut, Louis walked over to the young woman and greeted her with a smile. She smiled back but she seemed a little absent, maybe she was nervous or scared?

“How are you?” he asked as they began walking towards the meeting room. “How have you been?”  
“Fine,” she said. Louis didn’t really believe her, she was pulling at the thread of her blue dress again. “Nervous, I suppose. Scared too even though nothing has happened.”  
“I’m glad nothing has happened,” he said. “I care about you.”  
Arlea stared at him for a moment with wide blue eyes as she stopped in the corridor leading to the courtyard. Louis realised what he had said without thinking. “What?”  
“I care about you,” he repeated after a few moments. “You’re wonderful and at the very least, you are a good friend. I don’t have many of those.”  
“But…” She stuttered for a moment and was silent for a few more. “What about Lord Rowan, Lord Rivers, Lord Moore?”

Why did she think she was less deserving of his care? They did not see him as a friend or anything other as someone who they had to advise as part of their job. “They’re all around twice my age, they were my father’s friends, not mine,” he said honestly.  
“I feel like I’m just some woman who got lucky one time,” she admitted quietly. “I’m not of noble birth and I haven’t married into any noble families. I’m not even distantly related to any remotely wealthy family. I’m… I’m no one, really.”

Words seemed to fail for Louis as he looked at her. Hugging her and telling her she was not no one to him seemed a little inappropriate in the circumstances. “You are not no one to me,” he said softly. That seemed as good a place to start as any when it came or voicing his current thoughts. “Being noble doesn’t make you a kind person or a caring person. You are both of those and so, so much more. Just because the council or my mother, or anyone really, looks down on where you’ve come from, doesn’t mean I will.”  
“Thank you.” Arlea smiled at him and Louis smiled back. Her eyes were watery, as if she was about to cry. “You’re brilliant, not just as a king but as a person.”

“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” he said after a few moments. He knew being a great person and being a great king were two very different things. His father was a great person but not the best king since now he had to deal with Xaviel trying to invade. Which reminded him… “We should probably head to the meeting room. The council members should be arriving shortly.”  
She nodded. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”  
“Indeed it does.” Louis offered his arm out to Arlea and they walked through the corridors together to the meeting.


	9. Slaughter of Soldiers

Once all of the King’s Council, including Arlea, had assembled in the meeting room and once Louis had expressed his concern for Sir Oddo’s injury, they began discussing Xaviel’s attacks.  
“Etirin’s forces are almost close enough to our own troops to engage in battle,” said Lord Moore with a frown on his face. His fingers were rubbing his goatee slowly.  
“We should withdraw them to the castles,” said Sir Oddo. “They’ll have a better chance defending the castles that they do fighting the Xaviel troops in open field.”  
“It’s too late for that, the Xaviel troops could catch up our retreating ones and massacre them,” Lord Rowan pointed out.

Sighing, Louis pushed a few strands of his hair back. They really didn’t like being held back by his hair tie. “How likely is it for Xaviel’s troops to catch up with our own if they were to retreat to the nearest castles?”  
“Incredibly,” said Lord Rowan. He would know, his brother-by-law’s castle would be the closest to the troops, if not the closest. “The River Aria runs between where they are now and the nearest castles. Crossing the river will give them time to catch up and going to a shallow enough part for all of them to cross will give Etirin’s soldiers a shortcut to reach them.”  
“Then they’ll have to face Etirin’s soldiers on an open field,” said Moore. He had stopped stroking his beard. Sir Oddo protested to Moore’s suggestion as Louis thought he might.

Confused from his council’s loud arguing, he turned and sneaked a look at Arlea. His fingers were pulling at a thread of her dress and her teeth were biting at the dry skin on her lips.  
“Perhaps fighting them in the field is our only choice,” said Louis, interrupting his advisors. Their arguments were repetitive and there wasn’t much they could do. “How many men do they have?”  
“They probably have at least double what we have,” said Sir Oddo. “We have two thousand archers and around eight or nine thousand men-at arms.”  
“Do I even want to ask the estimations for them?” asked Louis. His did not like how this battle was going to go. Unless something miraculous happened, these soldiers were going to get slaughtered.  
“Almost twenty thousand men-to-arms and three thousand archers,” Moore said anyway, figuring their king should at least know the estimations for the enemy.

“And there’s no safe way for them to retreat? No hills to give them the advantage of high ground? Nothing?” Louis knew the borders had very flat land. Almost all of the higher land was used to build fortresses and castles on. Seeing the despondent frowns on almost all of his advisors’ faces, Louis let out a sigh. “Then we can only hope they fight bravely and take out as much of the army as possible. Order the other soldiers to get to castles to defend if they can.”  
“Of course, Your Majesty,” said Oddo, nodding in agreement. Castles were made to be defensive, after all.

It would be a rather bleak note to end the council session on but there was still the matter of his marriage to discuss. He wasn’t quite sure whether that was better or worse.  
“Your Majesty, on the matter of your marriage,” started Lord Rivers. “My wife and I were talking and we both thought that perhaps you could marry Miss Laurel for a time.”

Louis’ eyes widened. He had thought of that but he didn’t think one of his advisors would suggest it, especially since a Moore and Oddo wanted them to marry their daughters. But it wasn’t Moore or Oddo suggesting it, is was Lord Rivers. He only had sons.

Lord Rivers carried on speaking. “Only for a time. It would give you enough time to abolish the marriage law and after some time you could dissolve your marriage, should you wish to.”

Louis personally wouldn’t mind it, it would take some of the pressure off him. He was sure his mother wouldn’t like it too much but she didn’t like much anyway.

Still, he had to consider Arlea. Glancing over at her, he could see her tinted red cheeks. It would be her choice in the end since he didn’t mind. And no one could force her into saying marriage vows since then they wouldn’t be considered valid.  
“We’d have to think on that,” said Louis with a smile. “Thank you for your suggestion, my lord. Are there any other possible suggestions?”  
“If Miss Laurel doesn’t wish to, I’m sure one of my daughters or any of her friends would happily take her place,” said Lord Moore. Although his proposition seems innocent and helpful to the others, Louis knew that Moore wanted one of his daughters to marry royalty.  
“I’m sure my nieces could also take her place, if needed,” said Oddo with a hint of a smile on his face.

“We’d have to think on it and discuss it further,” he said again. As polite as Moore’s daughters were, they weren’t particularly interested in him, only the money and privileges that came with being royalty. “Is that all?”  
“I believe so, Your Majesty,” said Rowan with a small smile.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” said Sir Rattlebird. He hadn’t spoken much at all during this meeting, even less than usual. He cleared his throat again. “With all due respect, Miss Laurel hasn’t contributed to these meetings. She had no knowledge of battles and it doesn’t seem like she is going to be marrying you any time soon.”  
“With all due respect, Sir,” Louis said, repeating what the knight had said, “but you have barely contributed to this meeting either. You all agreed that she could sit in on these meetings and provide knowledge on things she knew about. It just happens that she doesn’t have any extra knowledge on these particular topics. Is there anything else?”

When no one raised any more problems, Louis officially ended the King’s Council meeting.


	10. Marriage

Louis was glad the meeting was over. The meeting was a lot to deal with and he felt like he needed a distraction, if only for an hour or two.

“That was stressful,” he muttered. Arlea laughed a little as she nodded. “Would you like to spend some time forgetting about the fact that my council suggested we get married?”  
“If you’d like,” said Arlea, shrugging a little. “I’d like to get to know you though, as friends. We don’t have to consider getting married at all yet, do we?”  
“Not for another six months at least,” said Louis with a small smile. If he did have to marry and not for love, he would happily marry Arlea as friends if he had to. There was four months until the end of the dry season and after the first month, maybe two, of the wet season, the wedding wouldn't be possible due to the weather. But he didn't need to pressure Arlea into anything.  
“Then let’s not think about it. What kind of things did you have in mind?” she asked.  Louis paused for a moment, he hadn’t really thought that far ahead. She could meet his ancestors but they might not take too kindly to it and he didn’t feel like he could subject her to that torture yet, if at all.

“We could fetch something to eat and drink first?” said Louis. “I’m sort of thirsty and I really fancy Abanao bread, the cooks weren’t lying when they said I eat is quite a lot.” The cooks really weren’t lying about it, he had noticed that he had eaten a lot of it when he was stressed in the last few days.  
“Alright then,” said Arlea as she stood up. She pushed her chair under the table and Louis did the same.

The two of them walked arm-in-arm to the kitchen, not saying too much to each other.

Louis was silent for a moment as one of the cooks spoke to him. It was the one who greeted them last time they were in the kitchens. What was her name? “Juliet, do we have any Abanao bread?”  
“Sorry, sir, Nalia ate the last of it,” she said quietly. Of course Nalia ate the last of it. He supposed it was his own fault for introducing her to it.

“Could you bring some up to a drawing room?” he asked, hopefully it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. “And some drinks too?”  
“Yes, sir,” said Juliet, nodding. “What drinks would you like?”  
“Whatever drink that is slightly alcoholic will do for me,” said Louis. He needed it after condemning soldiers to their death. “Nothing too strong though.”  
“As you wish, sir,” said Juliet, nodding. “And you, Miss?”  
“Could I have some hot cocoa please?”  
Juliet smiled brightly. “Of course,” she said. “Is that everything?”  
Arlea nodded and Louis smiled brightly. “For now, I think it is. We’ll be in the North Wing, in the larger drawing room up on the second floor.” That drawing room had a name like all of the other drawing rooms did but he had no idea what it was called, just like how he didn’t remember the names of most of the other drawing rooms. They weren’t even colour coded so he couldn’t even refer to them by their colour themes.

Louis took Arlea’s hand this time, instead of linking arms, and left the kitchens. “About Lord Rivers’ proposal… you can just forget it... if you want to?” He wasn’t sure how to word it and he knew that they’d talking about it for a little while earlier but he felt like he needed to say it again.  
“I know but… you can’t just completely ignore it,” she said.  
Louis hummed and nodded. “If I don’t marry within the next few months, my cousin will become the lawful ruler. There’s not enough time to change the rules with Xaviel trying to invade.” As bad as it sounded, he quite liked being king and his cousin wasn’t the nicest of people. “It would be easier to marry, my mother is insistent that it be a noble to secure our alliance or whatever it was.”

“Does your mother live in the palace?” she asked.  
Louis nodded. “She spends most of the time in the South Wing on the ground floor, I tend to try to avoid her.”  
Arlea looked confused. Maybe she had a great relationship with her mother but he didn’t have a great one with his. “Why do you avoid her?”  
“We don’t have the best of relationships, she cares more about her son getting married to a noble rather than her son getting married and being happy. I understand it’s for the Kingdom and all but I’d like to be happy.”  
“My mother always said marriage should be for love. Alliances made from love will be stronger than those made just because they had to be made,” said Arlea.  
Louis had to agree with Arlea’s mother. Marriage was supposed to be for love but he’d settle with just being friends if he had to. As long as he chose it and not his mother or Lord Moore or Sir Oddo, he’d be fine. Hopefully.

“I’d like to get to know you better,” said Arlea a little quietly. “You’ve been kind so far and I’d like to get to know you, if you’d like.”  
Louis looked over at the brunette in surprise but smiled. “I’d love to.” He was glad he was kind or, at the very least, seemed kind to Arlea. “Maybe we could get to know each other now? Over food and some drinks?”

“I’d love to,” she said with a smile, repeating his words.


	11. Drawing Room

Hearing the drawing room door open, Louis twisted his neck to see who it was. It was a footman with their food and drinks. He had brought up some other food too, some fruit and cakes.  
“Thank you,” said Louis with a grin as he stood up. He couldn’t remember his name. “It is very much appreciated.”  
“It’s no problem, sir,” they said with a grin. It was part of his job. Why couldn’t he remember the footman’s name? He delivered almost all of his food.  
“I’ll call if I need anything else,” said Louis as he watched him set the tray down and head to the wooden doors. They were scratched and old like every other set of doors in the palace but Louis still found them quite nice. All of the doors had different stories carved into them, this one was of Queen Mila’s alliance with the Azeht who they also shared a border with. The tree people were much kinder than their Xaviel neighbours and much more respectful.

The cook had left and the doors were shut so Louis turned to face Arlea. “Do you want your drink?”  
“Yes, I’ll make it myself, if you don’t mind.” Louis shook his head as Arlea stood and walked from her own chair to pour her own drink into a cup. It was still hot, too hot to drink.  Louis grabbed his own drink and a glass to pour it in. Arlea watched him pour it from the bottle and sip it. He turned the bottle round to read the label. Cama Town Wine. Apparently that was a nice place by the coast.  
“I haven’t had wine in a while,” he muttered to himself. He shouldn’t drink too much though, he was sure Arlea wouldn’t appreciate how open he could be after drinking a bit too much.

“Are  you drinking because of the council meeting?” she asked.  
Louis nodded. “Oh, definitely,” he said, taking another drink of the white liquid. “I set several thousand men to protect the border and in doing so, I’ve caused their deaths.”  
“It’s not just your fault,” said Arlea, frowning a little at him. “The council agreed with you to do it and they’re supposed to advise you on the best thing to do.”  
He hummed. “I guess so.” He drank a little more. “But even so, their children didn’t ask to be fatherless neither did their wives ask to be widowed.”

“There’s no women fighting,” said Arlea as she sipped her own drink only to quickly stop and pull the cup away. Still too hot.  
“No,” said Louis, shaking his head. “As much as I want equality, women tend to run things quite well when the men are off fighting. Sometimes they’re better, actually.” They were always determined to get a fair price for their things at the markets which Louis couldn’t really blame them for, they had worked hard to make or grow the things they were selling.  
Humming, Arlea sat down in the same seat as before. “Maybe you need to stop thinking about it so much,” she suggested. “Distracting yourself might help for a while.”  
Maybe Arlea was right, he thought. There was no changing it now and there wasn’t enough time to do anything better. Maybe he just needed to wait until he could deal with it better. “Distract myself in what way?”

She stuttered for a moment before speaking clearly. “If you weren’t king, what would you do? As a job.”  
Louis thought about it as he sat down. He had to stop himself from taking another sip of the wine, he’d get drunk far too quickly if he kept drinking it. “Maybe a baker,” he said. “I’d like that.” He also liked the food too.  
“Not a guard?” asked Arlea.  
Louis shook his head. He was nowhere near skilled enough to be a guard of some sort. “There’s a reason I have a guard, it’s because I’m not the best at fighting.”  
“Alright then,” she said, smiling a little as she sipped her hot cocoa. “Do you even know how to bake anything?”  
He was about to say yes but stopped. He knew how to bake a few cakes and that was it. “Not really,” he admitted.  
“You’re probably more likely to eat the food than bake it,” said Arlea with a grin.  
Louis brought a hand to his chest. “How dare you even suggest such a thing,” he said as he tried and failed to keep a straight face. He ended up laughing a little. “Actually, I probably would, wouldn’t I?” She was very aware of his tendency to eat Abanao bread.  
She nodded. “Yes, probably.”

He took another sip of his drink and looked at Arlea. Her hair was braided in an intricate design. She was quite beautiful. “I don’t really know what I would do, what do you do?”  
“I make books,” she said, stammering over her words a little.  
“Make books?” he repeated. He was confused, she didn’t write books she made them. He was expecting her to be a writer or something like that with how well she articulated her thoughts and ideas in writing and in speech.  
“Yes, I make the pages and stitch them together and then put a cover on, usually goatskin,” she said with a small smile. She seemed happy to talk about it. “Usually my mother will sell them at the markets to highborn lords and ladies. My father is a blacksmith but he usually buys the leather for me and I pay him later.”  
“It sounds quite interesting,” said Louis. He could probably listen to her for hours talking about it. Arlea nodded before taking another sip of her drink. “Maybe you could show me how you do it sometime?”  
“I wouldn’t mind doing that.”

Taking another sip of his wine, Louis looked at the tray. He didn’t feel like eating any of the fruits of cakes on there, not even the Abanao bread. He just wished there was something he could do about the entire situation. He was the most powerful person in the country and he felt completely useless.  
“Louis…”  
“Huh?” Louis sat up and looked at Arlea. She had stood and walked over to him while he was distracted. “Sorry, I wasn’t quite paying attention.”  
“It’s fine, I hadn’t said anything else,” she said as she put the cup of cocoa on one of the tables. “I was just wondering…” She wetted her lips. “I was, I just wanted to ask about the market.”

The market.

Was she going to ask about the assassination?

“Yes?” he urged.  
“You wanted to kiss me,” Arlea said quietly. Her fingers had a blue thread wrapped around them.  
Louis sipped his wine. “I did want to.” He still did. Probably more now than he did before but that was probably because of the wine. “I still do.”  
“Could I kiss you then?”  
As Louis stood up, he put his glass of wine next to Arlea’s drink. “If you’d like to.”

She nodded as she shuffled closer and Louis could feel his heartbeat getting quicker. He leaned down a little at the same time she went up on her toes. The moment their lips met, Louis stopped worrying about Xaviel and focused on Arlea. On how soft her lips were and how there were traces of cocoa. His hand rested on the small of her back while she gently cupped his cheek with her cold hand.

Pulling away, Louis could feel her warm breath on his skin. It was a short but sweet kiss and he already longed for another.  
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. She glanced away from a moment, her cheeks tinted red. “I’m lucky to know you.”  
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I wish I didn’t have to go so soon.”  
Louis could arrange for her to stay with a few words to the maids but she probably had other things to do. “I know.” The next council meeting was a week away and it was too risky to go to the markets so soon. “Would you like me to walk with you to the gates once we’ve finished our drinks?”  
“What about your security?”  
“They’d have to shoot me through the gate, they wouldn’t be able to get up to the walls,” said Louis. Unless it was a guard or a member of the household but if one of them was an assassin, they’d probably choose a better time to do it. “I’m sure I’ll be safe.”  
“Then I’d love to have you accompany me to the gates.”


	12. Important Matters

Oddo was one of the first to arrive at the council meeting for once. He looked surprised as he took his seat on the right of the king. Lord Moore and Lord Rivers hadn’t arrived yet.  
“Your Majesty,” he started, “I thought Miss Laurel was supposed to be here? She’s usually here by now, isn’t she?”  
Louis looked over at Oddo, surprised at the concern. “Yes but she’s ill, I’m afraid.”  
“Oh,” said Oddo, looking away from Louis. “I hope she gets well soon.”  
Sir Rattlebird also spoke up. “It’s a shame, we could have used her advice.” Or question it but there was progress, however slow it was.  
“I’ll be sure to pass that along,” said Louis, smiling a little. Even if the two council members were saying it to be considered polite, Louis was glad for it. He did wish she could have been at the council meeting.

Lord Moore walked in and, seeing Louis's sorrowful look, frowned as he sat down. "Sir, what's wrong? Has something happened between yourself and Miss Laurel?"

They had kissed.

But Louis wasn't going to tell them about that.

There was a fleeting thought that maybe Arlea was avoiding him because she was embarrassed or because she regretted kissing him. They were just wild ideas, nothing more.  
“Nothing, my Lord. She's just ill,” said Louis.  
“Ah,” said Moore. “With what, may I ask?”  
“She said it was a cold that's taken a small turn for the worst. Hopefully, it will only last a few days at most,” he said. Arlea had mentioned she was a sickly child and that she was still ill quite often.

“Have you thought on Rivers' marriage proposal?” It was the first time Lord Rowan had spoken since greeting Louis when he arrived and took his seat at the table.  
“We have a little bit,” said Louis. But not much at all, he probably should have had that conversation last week instead of kissing. “We should probably speak more on it before we make any decisions.”  Truthfully, they probably should speak more on it and come to a decision together soon so that they can spend time arranging things for a wedding or trying to figure out another way around it which didn’t involve marrying one of Moore or Oddo’s relatives.

“Your Majesty, I apologise for how late I am,” said Lord Rivers as he hurried into the council room and took his seat. Louis looked to him for an explanation. He was in no mood for anything ridiculous. “We had news that my niece was giving birth and I had to arrange a carriage for my wife to go to see her.”  
“Do not worry, my Lord,” said Louis with a smile. “I hope your niece and the baby are well, congratulations.”  
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Rivers with a nod.

Moore awkwardly cleared his throat. “I suppose now we are here, the meeting will begin?”  
Louis frowned but nodded. As much as he didn’t want to discuss things, he supposed it did have to be done. “Yes. How are the soldiers at the border?” he asked. He’d rather talk about it first and more onto the less pressing matters afterwards.  
“A lot of the troops at other parts of the borders have successfully retreated back to the castles, namely the 4th, 6th and 7th regiments have been struggling by the wider section of River Aria,” said Sir Rattlebird. He was reading from a folded piece of parchment that he had placed on the table to read from.  
Louis nodded. “The river is too wide to cross by the sea, they’d need to come farther inland.”  
“Yes,” said Sir Oddo. “It does risk going closer to Xaviel forces but they shouldn’t know they are there if they stick close to the river.”

“Which castles have the regiments retreated to?” he asked.  
“The 2nd has retreated to Rivergate,” said Lord Rivers, it was his older brother’s home and lands. Louis assumed that’s where his niece and her child where and it was presumably where Rivers’ wife was heading. Rivergate was also where one of the largest bridges in Pacifia was, they controlled who passed from one side of the River Aria to the other.  
“And the 3rd and 8th?” asked Louis. The 5th was the regiment doomed to face Xaviel troops in a day or two.  
“The 3rd are at Balo Keep and the 8th are at Highview,” said Sir Rattlebird quickly. Balo Keep was small and quite close to the border, he wouldn’t be surprised if Xaviel attacked there soon. Highview was farther south was on rather high land so it would be more secure than Balo Keep.

“And… and the 5th?” he asked reluctantly. There was still a horrible twisting and turning feeling in his stomach, it hadn’t really left except for when he was distracted in the drawing room while talking to Arlea.  
“They’re rather close to the Xaviel troops,” said Moore.  
Louis hummed and then Oddo spoke up. “General Arlo thinks that the Xaviel troops will be meeting them in battle in four or five days but the letter was dated two days ago.” Which meant the soldiers would get slaughtered either tomorrow or the day after.  
“And there’s nothing we can do?” asked Louis. He knew there was nothing they could do now but he could still desperately hope that there was. The advisors all exchanged a glance. There was still nothing. “No, I didn’t think so.”

“Sir, perhaps you should focus on your speech next week,” suggested Rowan. Louis had forgotten about that. Lord Rowan hadn’t spoken too much but Louis was aware that Rowan did not have much to do with war and soldiers, he knew more about nature, fishing in particular.  
“Yes, perhaps that will help,” said Louis. A week after his speech would be the vote on fishing and women in the city would be able to vote. “Is there anything I should include?”  
“Other than the obvious about fishing,” said Moore, “maybe you should mention how things are going at the border.”  
“It wouldn’t be good to tell them about failures,” said Oddo. That could crush their spirits if they knew they didn’t have much chance at fighting Xaviel.  
“They will find out anyway, no doubt some of the families here will lose someone,” said Moore with a frown. “It would be better to hear it from their king.”  
“Perhaps His Majesty should decide whether he wants to tell them or not,” said Rowan, narrowing his eyes at Moore. Louis wondered if the two of them had had some sort of disagreement outside of the Palace.

“You should probably announce that women above the age of sixteen will be allowed to vote,” said Rivers. Louis nodded in agreement. “It seems like a rather important thing to mention.”  
“The history with the Azeht people might be important too, they did tell us our fishing would go down unless we put in some restrictions,” added Sir Rattlebird with a smile on his face.  
“Yes, I should include that too and maybe some history.” Louis was grateful that the advisors were all speaking more in this session and they were being helpful too. He wasn’t condemning men to death this week which was definitely a positive even if those same men were to die in a few days. “Thank you, my Lords, Sirs. Is that all?”  Rivers and Oddo nodded. After a moment of hesitation, Rowan did too.

“I shall write to you with news of the troops when I get the news myself, Your Majesty,” said Sir Rattlebird. Louis nodded and thanked him. Glancing to his right, he was disappointed when it was Sir Oddo sitting there and not Arlea.  
“In that case, the council session is over and the next is in five days,” said Louis. All of the other members except one stood and headed towards the door, Rowan and Rivers talking to each other as they left while the two knights muttered something about Xaviel being stupid.

Lord Moore was the one who stayed seated. Nervously, he looked up from the table and glanced over at Louis. “Sir, if you should choose to marry Arlea, Miss Laurel, I mean. What would your mother say?”  
Louis stared at the man for a moment. His hair was greying and thinning at the sides. “I’m sure my mother would be thoroughly irritated with me,” he said. To his mother, the idea of marrying someone who was not of noble birth was ridiculous.  
“That’s why I was thinking,” he said, “maybe marrying someone of noble birth would appease your mother and it would satisfy the marriage condition so you can keep ruling.”

“And what if my mother’s opinion on this does not bother me?” asked Louis. He wished Arlea was here, Moore wouldn’t dare to bring this up in front of her or with her near.  
Moore shifted in his seat. “What? Why not? She’s your mother.”  
“Yes and the woman I marry might be married to me for the rest of our lives,” said Louis. “If I want to marry someone, we both have to choose to marry each other. As lovely as your daughters are, they want to marry the King of Pacifia, not Louis Fredrick who’s average with a sword and probably would be jobless if I weren’t king.”  
Moore was speechless. “Your Majesty-”  
“If you want me to spend time with your daughters, fine. They are wonderful people but if you think I will chose to marry them simply because of their birth, you are very wrong.”  
“I meant no offence, sir.”  
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Louis said sharply. “But who I marry is not your choice. I’m sure your carriage will be waiting for you, my Lord.”


	13. Talking

“I’m glad you’re better,” said Louis with a smile. He was glad to see Arlea smiling and wearing her blue dress. Louis realised it must be her favourite since she was almost always wearing it.  
She laughed a little. “So am I,” she said. “I was surprised that you passed on Sir Oddo’s get well soon wishes, I was under the impression that he didn’t really like me.”  
“I thought the same,” said Louis as they linked arms and began walking through the palace. They could go up to the drawing room, maybe the same one as last time.

“Louis,” said a stern voice. “If you are going to the kitchen again, I shall tell them to shut and lock the doors when you are near.”  
Sighing, Louis stopped at the sight of the woman. Her face was pointy with high cheekbones. “Mother, if I want to go to the kitchen, I will go to the kitchen.”  
“You eat too much,” she said as she stalked over. “Who is this?”  
“Mother, this is Miss Laurel,” he introduced quickly. Louis did not like the way his mother looked at Arlea. It didn’t help that his mother was already looking down on her in a literal sense since his mother was almost as tall as him while Arlea only reached his shoulder. “Miss Laurel, this is my mother, Princess Adelaide Vale-Fredrick, Queen Dowager.” He hated reciting it but Louis would rather recite the title than get scolded by his mother for not doing it.

“A pleasure to meet you, Your Grace,” said Arlea as she bowed her head.  
The Queen Dowager gave Arlea a disapproving glance before turning to her son. “I know of no Lord or Lady Laurel.”  
“There isn’t a Lord or Lady Laurel,” said Louis. He knew his mother couldn’t react too badly in front of both himself and Arlea. “But Arlea is my friend and I enjoy spending time with her. Time you’re currently taking up.”

“I thought you were meeting Percival’s eldest daughter today,” she said, pursing her lips together once she had finished speaking.  
“We’ve had to delay that meeting,” said Louis. He wished his mother would just leave him be and let him and Arlea carry on with what they were doing.  
“In favour of this one?”  
“In favour of her being healthy,” said Louis with a tight lipped smile. “Elizabeth has got a cold, similar to the one Arlea had. We’ve agreed to talk once she’s healthy.”  
“I see,” said his mother. Louis knew she wasn’t happy with it, that she wasn’t happy about him spending time with a titleless woman.

“If you’ll excuse us, we were heading up to a drawing room to talk,” said Louis as he headed to the nearest staircase.  
“Just to talk?”  
Louis sighed. Why did his mother always assume more would happen? “Yes, to talk. I doubt much more will happen.” Noticing how tense Arlea was, Louis headed up the first few steps. “I will see you later, Mother. I am not going to leave my guest waiting around.”

Once Louis and Arlea was in the drawing room and away from the Queen Dowager, Louis was free to sigh and let his perfect posture slip a little.  
“I mean no offence but I think I can see why you tend to avoid her,” Arlea said quietly. She watched him shut the drawing room door, the same ones as before with the alliance between Azeht and Pacifians carved into it.  
Louis laughed a little and nodded. “I know she wants the best for me, she just doesn’t go about it in quite the right way. And what she thinks is best isn’t necessarily the best either.”  
“She could be much worse.”  
Louis nodded, he had met cruel parents before and he was thankful his parents were not like those. “She could be, yes.”

Arlea sat on the loveseat with light blue cushions which matched the rest of the room.  
“I wish we could have gone to the markets today,” he said as he sat next to her. “But even if we could, I feel like this is an important conversation we need to have anyway.”  
“This is about Lord Rivers’ proposal, isn’t it?” she asked quietly.  
He nodded. “Yes, it is.”  
“That is a rather important conversation to have,” she said as she looked down at her hands in her lap. “I guess it’s best to get it over with.”

“I won’t force you to marry me, it wouldn’t count anyway, but I’d like to explain what would happen, if you don’t mind,” said Louis. He should explain a few things before she made a decision.  
“I don’t mind,” she said as she shifted to sit closer to him.  
“If you choose to marry me, the marriage can be dissolved at any point and as I said, I can’t force you to marry me otherwise it doesn't count,” he started. “If you choose to marry me, I’ll have to formally ask you and if we’re engaged we have to give each other a meaningful gift. That can be almost anything, really. There’s a hair braiding thing that goes with it too but I need to look up what that actually is, I just know it involved braid each others’ hair.”

“So I’d have to braid your hair?” asked Arlea with a small grin.  
Louis nodded, smiling a little. That seemed to be a good reaction. “Yes, you would,” he said. “You would have to move here too, since I’m royal.” This would all be a lot less complicated if he wasn’t King of Pacifia but he was and that was why this conversation was happening.  
“It wouldn’t be that bad, would it?”  
“You’d have to deal with my mother,” he said with a grin. She laughed a little. “But I suppose that’s not too bad. You’d also have to be taken to my ancestors’ graves.”

“What about the actual marriage ceremony and all of that?”  
“Well, it wouldn’t have to happen too soon, there must be more hours of daylight than there is hours of night and the wedding lasts from sunrise to sunset on that day. It’s quite long.” Arlea was listening to him speak, she had a smile on her face and it distracted him for a moment.  
“It sounds it,” she said.  
Louis carried on explaining things. “There’s quite a bit to do, I suppose. Your father doesn’t have to ‘give you away’ or anything, not like most religions. You don’t have to take my last name properly either, you can hyphenate it like my mother did.”

“Is this complicated stuff because of your religion?” she asked. Louis nodded. “I thought so, my parents didn’t have to do any of it. They just exchanged rings and vows in front of a Moon Priest since that’s what my mom believes in.”  
“It’s a similar thing but my religion has Sun Bishops,” said Louis. He wished his marriage was as simple as giving each other rings and saying vows. “We say vows too and we can wear rings, if you’d like. But we’d technically be partners, not husband and wife. A lot of people still consider a wife to be the husband’s property and that is not what my religion believes so we’d be partners. That is, if you even choose to marry me.”  
“I…” She trailed off. “I’m not sure.”

“There’s another thing,” Louis said hesitantly. “But I’d rather tell it you after you decide.” He wanted to make sure she was marrying him or not marrying him because of who he was, not because of his title or the title she’d get.  
“I think I’ll need some time to decide,” she said honestly.  
Louis nodded, he understood. “That’s alright. Before you answer, may I ask you something?”  
“Of course.”  
Hopefully, he wasn’t being too bold by asking. “May I kiss you again?” He had asked the first time when they were interrupted, the second time, Arlea had asked and it had been a beautiful moment, in his opinion. He just hoped if she said yes, they wouldn’t get interrupted this time.

Arlea didn’t answer with words. Instead, she shuffled even closer to Louis and kissed him. There was no cocoa taste this time but her lips were still soft.

“I think I want to marry you,” she whispered while they were still close to each other. What happened to needing time to decide?  
Louis looked into her blue eyes, shocked for a moment. “Really?”  
“Yes,” she said, nodding a little. “I want to get to know you and even if I don’t end up having strong feelings towards you, I’m still your friend and this helps you.”  
“I could kiss you again,” he said honestly as he smiled.

Arlea had agreed to marry him. He could barely believe it. The beautiful woman he had just kissed wanted to marry him.

“You can if you want.”

So he did.


	14. Future Queen

Shaking slightly, Louis realised he probably shouldn’t be so enthusiastic about getting married to a friend. Or should he? Did he even see her as a friend? Maybe he saw her as something more. They had kissed a few times now and Arlea had said strong feelings which could mean she already had some feelings for him.

“Louis,” she said softly. He broke free from his thoughts and waited for her to say something else. “Juliet is at the door.”  
He turned to the double doors a little too quickly and felt incredibly dizzy. “Yes, Juliet?” It was Juliet, wasn’t it? Arlea had said it was.  
“Would you like any food or drinks, sir?” she asked with a slightly pink face. She knew she was intruding on something private.

Louis turned to look at Arlea, she shook her head. “No, we’ll be fine thank you.” Juliet nodded and started shutting the door. “Wait! Bring some wine up in about an hour.” He then turned to Arlea again. “Do you like wine?”  
“Yes,” she said, laughing a little at how manic he was. “I do like wine.”  
“Bring up some of the finest red wine we have then, please,” he said with a grin on his face. “Would you find Nalia and send her up with the wine, we might need a few glasses too.”  
Juliet nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll send Nalia up with the wine in an hour.”  
“Thank you.”

The door shut and Louis and Arlea were left alone. Was it normal to feel a little light headed after what had happened?  
“You’re so happy,” Arlea said quietly. She was smiling.  
“Of course I am, a beautiful woman just agreed to marry me,” he said. He sort of liked watching her blush and shyly thank him for his compliments but it was true. She was very beautiful and so far she was kind and caring. “We have to do this formally.” He frowned for a moment, he hated all the formalities that he had to do.  
“Yes, you said we do.”

Sighing Louis stood up, gently pulled Arlea up with him. He got down on one knee, like most men did while proposing. He didn’t have a ring to offer her, he might have felt better if he did. Or maybe he wouldn’t, maybe he’d still feel like he was about to explode with happiness and nervousness and…

And he was going to have to plan a wedding.  With Arlea’s help, of course. But it would be the two of them planning a wedding with a few other people helping. He was not ready for this but he was going to have to be.

“Do you have any middle names?” he asked.  
She shook her head. “No.”  
“Alright,” he said, giving her a nervous smile. “I, King Louis I Fredrick of Pacifia, would like to ask you, Miss Arlea Laurel, if you will marry me?”  
“I would love to,” said Arlea with a grin.

Louis couldn’t have stopped the ‘thank you’ that came from his mouth, even if he had wanted to. His mother wouldn’t nag him to get married to some noble lady if he was already engaged and he wouldn’t have to bring it up to the council. Of course, he’d have to bring up wedding plans with the council too for budgetary reasons but they might now be able to focus on finding a way to stop Xaviel.

Realising he was still kneeling on the floor, Louis really did wish he had thought this through and got a ring just in case. None of his rings would fit her and the one that might fit, he couldn’t give to her. He still needed to use his signet ring.  “I might not be able to give you a ring,” he said as he thought of something he could give her for now until they presented the other with their proper engagement gifts. Louis unfastened the pin from his jacket, it was metal and in the rough shape of a sun but the sun itself and its sunbeams were dedicated engraved onto it. It was simple in design but it meant a lot to him, he’d had it for almost five years, since he was sixteen. Louis stood up and held it in his palm for her to take. “But I can give you this. It means a lot to me and I know you’ll look after it.”  
Carefully, Arlea picked up the badge from his hand and stared at it. “I don’t mind not having a ring, this means a lot to you so… thank you, for everything so far.”  
“I could say the same thing.” He watched Arlea examine his badge, her thumb grazing over it as her eyes studied the engraving. “I got it when I was sixteen, from the Sun Bishop in the church. It was when I decided that was the religion I’d chosen to follow, my mother was furious since both her and father followed the Moon like your mother.”

“It’s nice, do you think I could perhaps have my own?” she asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.  
Louis nodded. “Perhaps, if you shared my faith in the Sun, they would make one just for you.” There was also the language which he rarely used outside of the church since he didn’t know many people who could understand and talk to him in the other language.  
“When do we have to do all the other formal and official things?”  
“Well, I need to actually find out the specifics to do with the hair braiding because I don’t quite remember much about it,” he said with a sheepish smile. “The other things can wait a while for now but we do need to announce it at the next council meeting as well as announcing it to the public. I could do that in a few days when I make my speech, if you are fine with it?”

She nodded. “I need to go back home and get my things before I move in. You can explain to my parents that we’re engaged.”  
Louis laughed. “Why? They’re your parents.”  
“But you’re the king,” she retorted. “And you understand all of this more than I do. Please?”  
Louis couldn’t find it in himself to say no to her as she looked at him with wide eyes. “Alright, Nalia will have to come with us though.”  
“That’s fine,” said Arlea with an excited smile.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. It was probably Nalia. Had it been an hour already?  
“Come in,” said Louis. He smiled when he saw Nalia, as he expected, holding a tray with three glasses and a bottle of red wine. “Thank you, Nalia.”  
“What’s the occasion?” she asked as she set down the tray. Her eyes lingered on the badge Arlea was gently holding for a few seconds before looking back at Louis with a suspicious expression.  
“I am engaged, Nalia, and I would like to propose a toast,” said Louis with a mischievous grin as he headed over to the tray and began pouring the wine into the first glass. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nalia’s expression change from wide-eyed and open-mouthed to that of a smile.  
“I see,” she said. “Congratulations to the two of you then.”  
“Thank you,” said Arlea as he walked over to join the two of them. They were both taller than her and he could see her shift her weight from one foot to the other.

“And now I should tell you the final thing about our marriage,” said Louis as he poured the wine into the second glass. “It has been a long time since partners have co-ruled Pacifia but due to my religion, that is what we’ll do. You will be a Queen with roughly as much power as I have.”  
The short brunette stuttered. “A queen?” she repeated.  
Louis nodded as he poured the third glass with a little less wine in it for himself. He set down the bottle and Nalia took one of the glasses. It would a slightly amusing sight to see her with a glass of wine while still dressed in uniform with armour on. He held Arlea’s glass out to her as he picked up his own drink. “Yes, Queen of Pacifia.”  
“But you’re mother wasn’t.”  
“My mother followed the same religion my father did which is not the religion I follow. By the laws of my religion, I must give you as much power as I have.”

“And since you’re the King…” Arlea trailed off.  
“You will be the Queen,” he said. Noticing her trembling, he held her hand in his own. “We are equals and I’d like to propose a toast to the future Queen of Pacifia.”  
“To me?” Louis realised she was probably quite overwhelmed. “Then I want to toast to you, the King of Pacifia.”

“To the King and the future Queen,” said Nalia, not knowing what she was supposed to say. All of the glasses made the clinking noise as they connected before they all drank.


	15. Luca and Ava

He would never have imagined how nervous he would have felt standing in front of his future partner’s house which was also her parents’ house. Nalia stood behind him, making sure there was no one specifically watching him go into the house. A lot of people wouldn’t recognise him, especially in a housing area he rarely visited. Anyone watching would probably think he was just some highborn lord.

Arlea knocked before pushing the door open. “Ma, I’m home!” she called out.  
A woman with a similar hair colour as Arlea appeared at the door and greeted her daughter with a hug. “Glad you’re back safe.”  
Arlea smiled and pulled away from the hug. Her mother was staring at Louis and Nalia. “Ma, this is Louis and Nalia, is Father free?”  
“Your Majesty,” said the woman as she realised who he was.  
“Please, just call me Louis,” he said with a smile.

“Yes, he’s just finished eating.” The woman looked at Louis and Nalia with curiosity. Arlea gestured for Louis and Nalia to follow them inside. Arlea’s mother shut the door behind them and herded them all into the main downstairs room where Arlea’s father was.  
“Father, this is Louis and Nalia,” said Arlea with a smile. She looked nervous and he could understand. She was introducing the King and future partner to her parents. “These are my parents, Luca and Ava.”  
“A pleasure to meet you,” said Louis as he shook her father’s hand once Luca had stood up. He glanced at his wife who was grinning.  
“Your Majesty?” Luca said slowly, as if he was guessing who Louis was.  
“I’d prefer Louis,” he said. It wasn’t that he hated being king, it was a privilege he had been luckily born into, he just hated people constantly calling him ‘sir’ or ‘Your Majesty’ or anything similar when they didn’t need to.

“We have something to announce,” said Arlea with a small smile filled with excitement. Luca and Ava exchanged a glance before looking back at Louis and Arlea. Nalia stood in the corner, ready to help out or attack, whichever was needed at the time. She towered over almost everyone in the room.  
Deciding there was no reason to wait any longer, Louis spoke. “Arlea and I are engaged.”  
“Engaged?” repeated Ava with wide eyes. Louis could see the pride in her eyes. Arlea nodded and let her mother pull her into a hug. “Congratulations.”  
“Thanks, Ma,” said Arlea with a smile. Her eyes were a little watery.

“She’ll have to move into the palace for protection,” Louis said bluntly. There was no way of putting it nicely, a lot of people knew of the assassination attempt now.  
Her father nodded in understanding as he rubbed his grey stubble. “Is that why you’re here?”  
“Yes, I’ve brought the royal guard with me, Nalia. She’s brilliant, she’ll help Arlea with moving her things into the carriage,” said Louis. He wished he could stay and get to know her parents better but he could always so that another time. “You will always be welcome at the palace, just ignore what my mother says, sometimes she forgets herself.”

“Thank you, Louis,” said Ava with a smile. Her parents seemed kind enough, it explained how Arlea was so kind, in a way. She had been raised by people who seemingly cared. “I’ll come and help you sort your things out.”  
Louis and Arlea’s eyes met for a moment, they seemed to sparkle as she smiled at him. “We won’t be too long.”  
“It’s fine, we can always come back tomorrow and get anything we can’t get today.”

Nalia stayed downstairs with Louis and Luca as they made small talk. Her duty was still to her king first since Arlea wasn’t technically queen yet. It would be hard for Nalia to split her time equally between protecting the two of them. How would it work if Louis and Arlea were apart? Even if they spent a lot of time together, it would be difficult for Nalia to protect both of them when they were apart.  Maybe teaching Arlea how to wield a weapon would help, even if it was only a dagger. Perhaps Louis could have a dagger made for her as his engagement gift to her. He was curious what Arlea would give him, maybe it would be a book. He would like that.

“Since you are Arlea’s parents,” Louis started, “I thought it best that the crown pays for your rent and you will no longer need to pay the crown’s taxes as you will be part of the family soon enough.”  
“Thank you,” said Luca, nodding as he spoke. “Is there anything I can do for you?”  
Louis shook her head. “Nothing I can think of.”   


“If there is anything, don’t be afraid to ask,” said Arlea’s father with a small smile. “I just…”  
“Just…” Louis said, hoping he’d finish his sentence.  
“You’ll treat her well, won’t you?” he said. “She’s never really expressed much interest in other people, not that she’s met too many people since she’s sick so often but you seem nice enough to treat her well.”

Louis could understand her father’s concern, he was sure her mother shared them too. He would treat her as well as he could. It probably didn’t help their concerns that she was going to be marrying the King. If the marriage didn’t turn out well, almost everyone would know. It was harder to cover things up when the news got out so quickly. He supposed some people might think that he’d be able to cover things up easier as King but he knew quite differently.

“I think you should be more concerned about her treating me well,” he said, attempting a joke. “But she’s is wonderful and kind, only a monster could treat her badly and I hope I am not a monster.”  
“I hope you aren’t either,” Luca muttered to himself. Louis could understand where that sentiment was coming from too, he knew a lot of marriages between nobles were loveless and sometimes painful. He hated the idea of being in a loveless marriage and even worse was one which was abusive.  
“I promise you, I will treasure your daughter,” said Louis, trying to offer some sort of comfort to her parents that he wasn’t some sort of monster. “She is like a little light, making everything around her just that tiniest bit brighter.” She was like the sun to him, bright and he probably worshipped her similarly.

The stairs creaked as Ava walked down them, there was a smile on her face as she turned to Nalia. “Could you help her bring her things down? They’re in a chest by her bed.”  
Nalia glanced over at Louis before nodding. “I can help.”  
“I’ll come up with you,” said Luca as he headed to the stairs. Louis had the feeling her father might ask Nalia a few questions about what was going on and about Louis.

It left Louis with Ava this time who was adjusting a cushion on a chair at the dining table. “You should come over for dinner one of the days, you seem like a very nice man.”  
“Thank you,” said Louis as he walked over and stood by the dining table. “You’re incredibly nice too.”  
Ava nervously smiled and smoother out her dress. He wondered if Arlea got her little nervous tick from her mother. “It was nice of you to buy those fruits for her, she wouldn’t stop talking about it for days even though she was a bit shaken with everything else.” Louis knew she meant the assassination attempt, what else could she mean? “She shared the fruit with us too, some of them were really nice. Thank you.”  
“It’s no problem.”

There was a few loud bangs from upstairs, probably from Nalia and Arlea’s father moving the chest. They both looked up at the ceiling, it sounded like the noise was right above them.

It didn’t take Nalia and Luca too long to move the chest from upstairs and onto the back of the carriage. Nalia was helping the coachman secure it on the carriage while Arlea was promising her parents that she’d be safe and would be back tomorrow to get more of her belongings.  
“Thank you for inviting us in,” said Louis as he stood by the carriage. Nalia was sitting by the coachman at the front of the carriage.  
“It’s our pleasure,” said Ava with a grin. Arlea definitely took after her mother, both in looks and personality. She turned to her daughter. “And you better come back and visit us, young lady.”  
“Ma,” whined Arlea. She was still smiling. “Of course I will.”  
“Good,” said Ava before hugging her daughter yet again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
“See you tomorrow, Ma. Bye, Father,” said Arlea as Louis helped her up into the carriage. Ava smiled at them both while Luca remained relatively neutral about the whole thing.  
“Thank you, again,” said Louis as he got into the carriage after Arlea. He smiled, her parents were wonderful people, he could see why Arlea cared about them so much. Louis would definitely have to take up the offer of dinner with them, it would be much nicer than most of the dinners he had shared with his mother in the last few years.


	16. Rooms

The carriage ride back to the Dawn Palace was quiet and awkward. He knew she would probably be upset over moving out so suddenly but she did know what she was agreeing too. Louis wished there was something he could say to her.  Eventually, the carriage stopped and the coachman opened the door for them to get out inside the palace grounds. Louis let Arlea get out first.

“You’re welcome to pick your own room,” said Louis. The palace had far too many and not many of them were used.  
“Thank you,” she said, smiling a little. “Which wing is your room in?”  
“The North Wing, my room is on the third floor,” he replied. It was far from his mother as he could get.  
She seemed reluctant to say something but then she spoke: “I’d like to have a room near yours then.” He wondered if that was what she was originally going to say.  
Louis smiled. “That’s fine with me. We can head up now and the guards will bring your things up as soon as they can, if you want?”  Arlea nodded and stood awkwardly for a moment before Louis offered his arm to her. They were used to walking around together and he would hate for her to get lost. The guards would help her, no doubt, but the palace was full of ridiculous turning corridors and it could get very confusing very quickly.

After telling Nalia to rest for a while as she wouldn’t be needed, they headed up the main set of stairs in the entrance and then to the left. They passed the drawing room that they were in before, the one they kissed in, the one they got engaged in. Just around the corner was another set of stairs that lead up to the third floor.

Louis’ doors had carvings of his ancestor’s rebellion on them; it was the one that lead to Pacifia becoming independent from Xaviel.  There was other doors around it with similar carvings one, one of which was the crowning of Louis’ ancestor. It was when the people chose Alexandre Fredrick as their King and not just as the leader of the rebellion. Out of curiosity, Arlea pushed those doors open to reveal a grand room, everything was adorned with silk and cushioned and had intricate details. Everything was in a white or cream colour and Arlea knew immediately that she wasn’t staying in that room, she’d make everything a mess far too quickly.

The next room she looked in was the one a little further away from Louis’ room, she didn’t know if she wanted their rooms to be close or not. Louis hoped she’d pick a room that was a little bit closer. Either way, they’d probably share a room at some point. It was like the last one, lavish and luxurious with pale pinks and reds decorating things this time.  
“I don’t really know, they’re all so nice,” said Arlea as she wandered around the room. Louis stood in the doorway, watching her with a smile.  
“You can take all night to choose if you’d like. Or you can switch if you decide you want to.” Louis’ room used to be in the South Wing on the second floor but his mother managed to get up the stairs to scold him. She was always determined to irritate him. Then he decided to be as far away as possible since his mother wouldn’t go to one of the other royal houses available, not even the one by the sea.

“I’d rather just choose now,” she said, frowning a little. “And I’d rather have one closer to your room.”  
Louis smiled and they walked back to the corridor his room was on. The first room she had looked at was the one next to his but there was one opposite with doors telling the story of how the Dawn Palace came to be built. Originally, the First King decided it was meant to be a place to worship the sun but since construction was taking too long, they built a smaller (but still quite large) church for worship and once the palace was completed several years later, the First King’s son was king and had changed some of the rooms around so that the royal family could life there.

Louis pushed those doors open to reveal a room similar to the other two but with various shades of purple. There was a giant bay window with light purple curtains decorated with floral embroidery. Looking over at Arlea, he could tell that this room was her favourite. She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hands over the fabric while Louis headed to the window. He could see across the city, the Church of the Sun’s spire poked up into the sky.

“I like this room, if I’m being honest.”  
He turned to look at her. “I’ll tell the guards to bring your things in then. They’ll start cooking dinner soon too, is there anything specific you would like? Or anything you don’t want?”  
“I don’t like pork all too much or bacon, it makes me feel sick,” she said. “Other than that, there isn’t much I don’t eat.”  
“I’ll go and tell the cooks that then,” said Louis. If they ever cooked pork or bacon, they’d have to cook something else for her to eat. “Someone will send for you when it’s time to eat and don’t be afraid to ask for anything.”  
“Thank you, Louis.” Arlea smiled and he smiled back.  
“I’ll see you at dinner if you’re joining me at the table.” He hoped she would join him, he’d like that a lot and with any luck, his mother wouldn’t be joining them.  
“I’ll see you at dinner.”


	17. Library

All through dinner, Louis found himself noticing how he ate more. He usually dined alone and not in the dining room. When he didn’t dine alone, it was with his mother and she tended to scold him even if he was adhering to the strictest of etiquette rules. But now he wasn’t dining by himself or with his mother, he was dining with Arlea and now he cared about how he was eating. Was he being messy?

It wasn’t until the footman brought out desert did he realise that Arlea was too busy just trying to eat to care about what he was doing or if he was following the proper etiquette.

When they had both finished, their plates and utensils were taken away. Louis stood and Arlea quickly stood afterwards.  
“I’m going to head to the library in the East Wing, would you like to come with me?” asked Louis with a smile. He needed to find out about the braiding, he hadn’t remembered it. He didn’t really think he’d get engaged so soon.  
“I’d love to,” she said with a smile. “What sort of books are in the library?”  
“Oh, all sorts,” said Louis with a smile. “There’s fiction and history and books detailing the lives of many kings, stories of the rebellion and of the Wizard and his gifts to us.”  
“The Wizard?” she asked, her eyebrows raised. “Like in the bedtime stories?”  
“They’re not just bedtime stories. Most of them have happened just slightly differently to stories the books tell,” said Louis. He watched her excitement grow as she hurried to the doors.

“Could I read about them then?” she asked as she walked through the door that the guard was holding open.  
“If you want to,” said Louis as he followed her through the door and up the stairs. She walked quickly considering how much food they had just eaten. “They’ll be your books too.”  
Arlea paused at the top of the stairs, the skirts of her dress swished around a little and he smiled as he watched her realise what Louis meant by that. “They will be, won’t they?”  
He nodded. “Yes.”

“I could just read for hours,” she said, looking fairly excited by it. Louis wished he understood but he’d only ever read books for an hour at a time, his concentration didn’t last too long and usually he’d find himself wanting to do something else. “And I’d always have a new book to read when I’m ill.”  
He had forgotten about how often she got ill, she was ill not too long ago. “I’d happily fetch them for you, I used to read all the stories about the Wizard and knights and everything like that, if you like reading things like that.”  
“I’d read almost anything,” said Arlea and Louis smiled as he lead the way to the library through the corridors.

“You know,” said Louis as he walked. “The library is the only room in the palace that you can access from two floors and it’s the only building in the East Wing that you can get to through this way?”  
“Really? Why?”  
Louis shrugged. “Alexandre or his son decided it for some weird reason which we’ll never really know.”  
“Why not?” asked Arlea.  
“They never wrote anything down, my father used to think they had taken something and the builders just tried to make the plans make sense,” he said, laughing a little. The idea of his ancestors being high on whatever plants they had eaten was amusing and ridiculous, he loved it. It wouldn’t surprise him if the story was true with the weird design on the palace.

Louis stopped in front of a set of doors, doors which were somehow grander than the others since they were the tiniest bit taller. The details on this door told the story of Pacifia’s first library, in Rockshore. Some sadistic man by the name of Mora Estuair decided to build a giant library on top of the cliff next to the town so whoever wanted to get to the library had to walk all the way up to it.  
“You can go in first,” he said with a small smile. Louis stepped to the side to let her open the doors.  
“Alright,” she said, smiling back at him as she walked over to the double doors and pushed then both open.

Arlea walked forwards to the wooden railings and let out a gasp. “There’s so many books.”  
“It is a library,” he said, chuckling a little as he stood next to her. The wood of the rail was smooth beneath his fingers as he looked down at the shelves of books beneath them on the first floor. There was the faint smell of dust everywhere, probably because the library wasn’t used or cleaned as much as the bedrooms and drawing rooms. Thankfully, it was still light enough to read so they wouldn’t need to strain their eyes by reading in candlelight. “You can read whatever you’d like to read in here.”  
“Thank you,” said Arlea with a smile. She took a few steps towards the nearest shelf and began reading the words printed on the spines. “I think I could spend hours reading the spines alone and not decide on anything to read.”  
“You probably could,” said Louis with a smile. Maybe he should spend more time in the library, if only to see Arlea’s excited little smiles and the way she bit her lip while reading the spines. “I have to go and find a book, just shout if you need me, I suppose.”

She turned and gave him a smile and a nod and Louis smiled back before she turned back to the books.  Louis headed to the left, in the opposite direction of Arlea, and kept walking around the edge of the library until he was opposite the doors he had came in through and was by the giant shelf which contained all the books relating to his faith. With a sigh, Louis began searching for ones which might tell him what he needed to do with the hair-braiding part of the engagement. He didn’t understand why it was even a part of it, maybe he’d discover the reason if he could find the right book amongst the many shelves of books.


	18. Knights

Both Louis and Arlea spent hours in the library searching and reading until it got too dark to read comfortably without candles. Louis would be leaving a book out on one of the tables on the lower level of the library so he could return to it after breakfast tomorrow when it was lighter.

Louis stood outside of his room and Arlea stood outside of hers. “Goodnight,” he said with a smile. “If there’s any problems, don’t be scared to ask for help from the guards or me if I’m awake.”  
Arlea smiled as she walked over to him. “Thank you, again, for everything, really.”  
“It’s my pleasure,” he said as he leant against the doors. They wobbled a little but didn’t open. “I hope you sleep well.”  
“You too,” she said. “Goodnight, Louis.”

Louis opened his door a little as Arlea leaned up to kiss his cheek. He was sure she didn’t even catch a glimpse of his brightly decorated room with how quickly she turned around and scurried to her own room. She had vanished behind her bedroom doors within seconds and Louis was left standing outside his room with a smile on his face and a warm feeling inside.  He hoped he still felt that feeling in twenty years when everything was less exciting and old.  Louis shut the door behind him. Hopefully, he’d get a better night’s sleep now he didn’t have to worry about his mother nagging him to get married or the worry of losing his crown to his idiotic cousin because he wasn’t married. The last few nights had left him tired, he just wanted this night to be different.

When Louis drifted awake, the shadows of his room confused him. Why was he waking up in the middle of the night? Moonlight peeked through his curtains and he sighed.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Letting his head fall back onto the pillow, Louis hoped whoever it was would go away. Or maybe he was just imagining it.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Louis? Are you awake?”

Her voice was quiet but there was no mistaking that voice.

Arlea.

If anyone was going to wake him up, he was glad it was her. He hoped nothing was wrong. After climbing out of bed, Louis checked to make sure he was dressed decently, it would be embarrassing if he was wearing nothing, and opened the door to her.  It was the first time he had seen her with her hair down and not intricately braided. She looked just as beautiful in a simple cotton chemise, without the corset and the skirts.  
“Is something wrong?” he asked as he leaned against the door. Stumbling a little, Louis remembered that the door could move and open more than it was currently.  
“No,” she said quickly, seemingly alarmed. “Well, I… I can’t really get to sleep and I was going to ask the guard at the end of the hall if there was something I could do only… well, he’s asleep.”  
Louis frowned, the guard was supposed to be awake, not asleep. “Do you want to come in and talk or something?”  
Shrugging, Arlea looked down at her hands. “I don’t really know.”

He hummed for a moment and then thought of something. “Did you find something to read in the library?”  
“Oh, yes, there’s a lot more books than I first thought,” she said as she looked up at him. “I found one about a knight called Joi and… and I feel a little rude standing out here.”  
“You can come in and sit down or something.”  
“Oh,” she said, laughing a little as she walked inside. Louis shut the door behind her and watched as she walked over to the window. She peered out of the window. The moonlight cast half of her face in shadow as she stared out across the gardens and the sea that was just visible above the sea.

“You were saying about the knight?” asked Louis with a smile as he sat on the end of his bed.  
Arlea smiled and turned away from the window. “He was called Joi, he travelled across all of Pacifia, jousting in tourneys and helping struggling citizens. He also taught whoever asked how to fight, whether they were boys or girls, women or men or anyone really. If they were kind to kind, he would help them.”

“He sounds like a nice person,” said Louis, watching Arlea pace around his room a little.  
“He was,” said Arlea. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment before she stepped closer to the end of the bed. “Could I sit by you?”  
He nodded. “Sure.”  
Arlea sat beside him at the foot of his bed. “Joi decided that he wanted to help a little boy. He was ill, he had some sort of pox which the healers couldn’t cure. So he set off from his home town of Snowdale to try to find a cure. He made it to the Tribes of the South and then the story stops. No one knows what happened to him at all.”

“That’s a shame,” said Louis. It meant the sick boy was never cured.  
“Yes,” said Arlea. She frowned. “It’s a sad story, really.”  
“Maybe you need to read a happy one instead.”  
She nodded and she shuffled closer. “Maybe.” She shrugged. “Or maybe you could tell me a happy story instead.”  
He laughed a little to cover how his mind was completely blank. “Why do you want me to tell you a happy story?”  
“I… I don’t know,” said Arlea, shrugging. She spoke again, quieter. “I like your voice.”  
“My voice?”  
“Yes,” she said. Louis was certain that if it was light enough, he would be able to see the blush on her cheeks “It’s calming.”

“Alright,” he said slowly. It was an odd thing, that she found his voice calming. He didn’t find his own voice calming but he supposed not many people did. “There’s another knight from Snowdale but their story ends a bit better. Although, like every knight, they didn’t start as one.”  
“What did they start off as then?” she asked as she rested her head on his arm. She spoke slower than before and her voice was barely above a whisper.  
“They worked in an inn, the inn their family owned,” he said. “And everyday in the morning, they’d play with their brothers outside and pretend to be knights like Joi and when they were asked what they wanted to be, they always said they wanted to be a knight. A lot of the people in the inn laughed but not their family. Their father told them to carry on and he won a bet with one of his customers who was also a knight. The knight had to take them on as a squire because of the bet and they learned ridiculously quickly. They’re far better than me and I was trained by people who were apparently the best.”

Arlea shifted and closed her eyes as she listened to Louis.

“And one day, the squire was knighted at midnight because the knight couldn’t deny them the rank any longer than they already had. Because even though everyone told him that his squire could never be a knight, he knew that they might be the best knight that there ever was, at least, it terms of fighting skills.”  Louis paused and brushed Arlea’s hair out of her face. Noticing she was asleep, Louis was about to pick her up and carry her to her own room when he realised that might wake her up. And she had spent half the night trying to sleep, he couldn’t wake her up now. Carefully, he lifted her up and laid her down on the bed. He put a thin, knitted blanket over her before grabbing his jacket and heading to the doors. Even if he was tired himself, he had to deal with the guard who was sleeping on duty.


	19. The Letter

Once Louis had woken the guard, he immediately dismissed him from his position, and his duty as a night guard, he would be guarding the palace during the day, if he was still deemed a fit guard. He had fetched another guard, one who wouldn’t fall asleep, to keep watch and make sure nothing bad happened to Arlea.  After that, Louis headed to the library to carry on reading. There would be candles on the tables and he could get a guard to bring him some matches.  The book did hold the information he was searching for, thankfully. Rubbing his eyes, he realised that it was almost dawn as the sky outside was becoming slightly lighter.

“Sir.” Louis turned to the doors where Nalia was stood. Her face looked pale but he wasn’t sure if she was pale or if it was the lack of good light.  
“I’ve told you about calling me ‘sir’ said Louis as he stood. “What is it?”  
“A letter,” she said as she held out the paper to him. It was sealed with fuschia coloured wax and Sir Rattlebird’s seal was stamped into it.

He knew what it was and he dreaded opening it.

“Thank you, Nalia,” he said, nodding as he took the letter from her. “Could you put the book away for me while I read this?”  
“Yes, where does it need to go?” He had to remember where he had gotten it from.  
“A shelf on the second floor, there will be a gap on one of the shelves opposite the doors,” Louis replied after a moment.

He could feel his heart sink as he tore open the seal.

His eyes lingered on the first line, the one that had his name on, ‘Dear King Louis I Fredrick,’. Louis folded the letter. “Is Arlea awake?”  
“I think she might be,” said Nalia as she leaned over the railings upstairs.  
“I’m going to read this in the dining room, tell her she can join me if she’s awake. Also remind the cooks not to cook pork or bacon,” said Louis as he headed to the doors. “Thank you, Nalia!”  
Louis could hear Nalia's faint ‘No problem’ as the library doors shut behind him.

When he reached the dining room, Juliet greeted him with a smile. “We have fresh eggs this morning, sir.”  
Louis forced a smile. “That's brilliant.”  
“Should I do the usual?”  
“Yes, thank you, Juliet,” he said, still smiling.

As Juliet left the dining room, Arlea walked in. For the first time since he was handed the letter from Rattlebird, he had a genuine smile on his face. As she stood by the chair opposite him, she smiled.  
“I'm sorry about last night,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I didn't mean to wake you up or anything.”  
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” said Louis as he leaned forward a little. “I was already awake.”

“Is that a letter?”  
Louis nodded. Did she know it was from Rattlebird? She might have remembered from the council meeting. “I haven't read it yet, I don't want to.”  
“It’s about the battle, isn’t it?” asked Arlea. “You should probably read it.”  
“I know,” he said, his eyes fixed on the fuschia seal he had broke in the library. “I know I have to, I just don’t want to.”  
“You could read it now. Or we could read it together if you don’t want to read it alone?” she asked as she walked all around the dining table to sit by him.

“Are you sure you’d want to read it?” he asked. It’d tell him how many men died on both sides and how many people had deserted on their side at least. He was certain a few people would desert, especially before and during a battle like that, maybe even after it too.  
Arlea nodded. “I’m sure.”  Louis picked up the parchment with the broken seal and unfolded it. He held it in his left hand so Arlea could read it at the same time as him.

Six thousand dead, three thousand injured. At least 100 deserters.

That was far too many dead and injured men.  Men that Louis had sent to their deaths. He shouldn’t have listened to whoever told him to send the soldiers to the border. They should have grouped and stayed at the castles, they were made to be defensible.  
“Louis? It’s not your fault.” Her words were soft and gentle.  
He ran a hand through his hair, he hadn’t tied it up yet. He wasn’t even properly dressed. Although, the servants were sometimes used to him eating breakfast without being properly dressed. “It is though, isn’t it?”  
“Even if it is your fault, it’s not just your fault. It’s your council’s too, they suggested it,” said Arlea. It wasn’t much comfort but he knew she was trying and it was something. It wasn’t just his fault, his council had helped him decide what to do.  
“I’m the King, whatever happens is partly my fault anyway,” said Louis. He hated that but it came with the privilege.

The awkward silence that followed seemed to surround them, as if it was in the air. Louis considered changing into more appropriate clothes but he decided against it. He’d rather eat in the shirt and shorts and get those dirty instead of his more fancy attire.  
“You’re going to fetch more of your things later, aren’t you?” he asked. He had to say something, Louis couldn’t deal with the silence.  
“Yes, I’m not sure when though.”  
“Maybe you could go after breakfast?” There would be a few people around though, going to work or to the markets. “Or maybe a little later when it’s not so busy?”  
“Maybe a little later,” she said with a smile. “I was hoping to spend some time with you after breakfast, if you’re not doing anything.”  
He smiled. “I can deal with all the letters once you’re gone.”

“Nalia said you were in the library,” she said. “Were you trying to find out about the braids?”  
Louis nodded. “Yes, I know what we have to do now. Maybe after breakfast? It’s not going to be too much hassle today since neither of us have done anything with our hair, it’ll be fine.”  
Arlea hummed as she bit her lip. “Do you know the reason behind it too?”  
“As far as I could tell, it’s just intimacy,” said Louis. “I think it’s for when there was, and is, arranged marriages. It gives them some time to get to know each other first, just in case they have never met before.”  
“Whoever thought of that was clever then,” she said. It saved any potential problems involving meeting someone on their wedding day.  
“I suppose so,” said Louis. “It probably won’t make much difference for us though.”  
Arlea shrugged. “It might, we don’t know yet.”  
“No, we don’t.” If there were any changes, hopefully they would all be for the best. Thinking about it properly, it would be quite nice to just talk again without it being the middle of the night. Maybe Louis wasn’t the only one who was tired considering how little sleep either of them had gotten.

Louis’s thoughts were interrupted as the door open and a footman served them both their food, the same one who had served them dinner the day before. He set their plates down in front of them and Louis thanked him. He couldn’t remember his name at all so it was just a simple thank you.  
“They’re finally awake,” Louis mused. “Juliet came in earlier, mother’s said before that she’s not supposed to because it makes it look like we’re not as wealthy as we are. It doesn’t bother me, it means that it’s more likely our food will be cooked properly and it’ll be food we want.”  
“It doesn’t really make much sense,” said Arlea before she started eating her breakfast. Louis shook his head in agreement, it didn’t make much sense to him either.


	20. Feather Braid

Arlea waited outside of Louis’ room while he changed into something nicer for the day. He opened the door for her once he was finished. He didn’t have a jacket on like usual, just a white shirt. The red jacket was neatly folded on top of a chest of draws. The dark red curtains were open now and they had a clear view of the rest of the gardens and the wall surrounding the palace. Just behind the wall was at the edge of the cliff and from there, they would have been able to see where the sky and the sea touched.

“You’re room is nice,” she said with a smile. “It’s better now it’s not dark.”  
“Some might say it is better in the dark,” joked Louis. He was very aware of how much his mother disliked the colour red.  
She turned to him. “Your mother, maybe?”  
“Oh, how would you ever guess?” he drawled as he headed over and shut the door. “My mother doesn’t approve of my choices as much as my father did.”  
“He sounds like a good man,” said Arlea.  
“He was.” Louis lingered by the doors for a moment. Every so often he’d have moments like these, where he’d miss his father. He died from illness but now he was suspicious that it wasn’t an illness, that it might have been an Xaviel spy or a traitor who had poisoned him.

“My father always said he was one of the best kings we’d have.” She bit her lip. “I wish I could have met him.”  
“He would have liked you, I think,” Louis said with a sad smile. He was reminded of that empty feeling inside that his father’s death had caused. Louis missed him. As much as he tried to cover it up and distract himself, he missed him. “We can’t just sulk and mope all morning, can we?”  
“It’s alright to grieve,” Arlea said with a small frown.  
Louis walked over to the edge of his bed and sat down. “Yes, I know.”

Arlea walked over and sat beside him, she looked a little suspicious of him and rightfully so. Louis hadn’t had any time to grieve with everything going on. With his coronation and then Xaviel and trying to find a bride and planning a wedding, he hadn’t had much time to breathe and mourn his father properly.  
“So what are we supposed to do then?” she asked. Maybe it was in an attempt to distract him. Whether she had done it on purpose or not, Louis welcomed the distraction with open arms as he shuffled back on the bed.  
“Well,” he started. “I have to braid your hair first, since I proposed because of being royal and all that. Then you braid mine, it doesn’t matter how or what type of braiding it is at all. It’s awfully vague actually, that’s all is really says.” Some guidance would have been appreciated.  
“Oh, that is sort of vague,” she agreed as she pulled her hair back, making sure not of it was going to be left out.

Louis hummed as he reached over to his bedside table and grabbed a hair tie, ready for later. He moved closer to Arlea and sat behind her. “If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you believe in anything?”  
She shrugged. “I don’t know I just… I was never interested in my parents religion, I never enjoyed going to the temple at night when I could go. I know some people believe in gods and all but…” She shrugged again as Louis separated the front of her hair on the right into a few sections. “If there were gods, why would they let so much bad happen? Why would they let diseases exist? If those cruel gods exist, I wouldn’t want to worship them.”  
“Sounds reasonable enough,” said Louis. “It’s better than my reasoning, I suppose.” Knowing she’d ask, he carried on speaking. “When I turned sixteen, there some stupid law somewhere that said I had to choose my religion because I was a royal adult or something like that.” There was a lot of stupid laws involving the royals, how had they even passed and become legal? “And I sort of did it just to spite my mother, she hates the Sun religion. She thinks they’re stupid for not sharing beliefs with the Moon one.”

“It’s a different religion, they’re going to have some different beliefs,” said Arlea. He could hear the confusion in her voice.  
“Exactly,” said Louis as he started braiding her hair and weaving in different sections. He chuckled. “So... I follow an entirely different religion just to spite my mother.”  
She giggled. “It’s a rather petty reason.”  
“Oh, definitely.” Louis smiled, he was half finished with the braid. “There are worse reasons though.”  
“I suppose there is.” She laughed again. You could have done it just to murder someone or something like that.”  
“Yes, maybe. And you say that, but, there are some tribes in the south that have human sacrifices and where murder is legal. Personally, I find that sort of terrifying,” he said as he grabbed the hair tie from next to him.  
“That does sound sort of terrifying.”

Louis finished the braid above her left ear with a smile on his face. “Finished, it’s a feather braid and I think you look absolutely beautiful.” Arlea turned her head and he pressed a kiss to her cheek.  
“Thank you.” She smiled as her cheeks turned pink.  
“Your turn,” said Louis as he shuffled on the bed to sit next to her. He had a grin on his face. She really did manage to make him smile, despite how he was feeling before.  
“I should warn you, I can’t really do my hair, my Ma usually does it in the morning,” she said as she grabbed a hair tie off of his bedside table and lifted her skirts up to sit further back on the bed.  
“She is very good at it,” said Louis with a smile. He felt her fingers pull his hair back and seperate it but now like how he did it.  
“Yes, she is,” she said as she started delicately weaving locks of his hair together in a sort of similar way to how he had done.

“I hope your parents aren’t too upset with me,” he said. They seemed rather upset, maybe even mad that it was happening so suddenly.  
“Why would they be upset?” She sounded confused.  
“You had to move out on the day you got engaged, I suppose it came as a bit of a shock.”  
“You know,” she said, pausing for a moment. “I think they were more shocked that the King was standing in their home, engaged to their daughter.”  
He chuckled and almost moved his head to turn to look at her. Louis had to remind himself not to. “Yes, well I suppose that was quite a shock too.” Laughing a little, he thought of her father. “I think your parents just want you to be happy.”  
“I am happy,” she said and Louis couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

  
“Really?”  
“Yes, I enjoy spending time with you, it makes me happy,” she said.  
He smiled wider. “I like spending time with you too,” he admitted. He guessed this is what the intimate part of this was then. “I can just relax around you, I don’t have to worry too much about keeping up appearances or pleasing the public or whatever else there is that I’m supposed to do.”  
“You don’t remember?” she asked, there was a teasing tone in her voice.  
“Why would I think about that when I can think about you right now?”  
She giggled. “You’re too nice.”  
“And you’re too kind,” said Louis. He could feel the gentle tugs on his scalp as she wrapped the hair tie around his hair to hold it in place. “I guess we’re a bit stuck then.”  
“Not for long,” she said. She sounded sadder and then Louis remembered. He had to work and she had to go and fetch her other belongings. “Father will be at work today, only Ma will be home.”

“They’re always going to be welcome to come here,” said Louis. It was the least he could do, they were her parents and they seemed wonderful and nothing like his mother.  
“Thank you,” she said as she climbed off of the bed. She kissed his cheek before heading to the door. “I’ll see you later?”  
“I’m sure I can walk you to your carriage, if you’d like me to?” he said as he stood up with a hopeful smile on his face.  
“I’d love for you to,” she said with a grin. Heading to the doors, Louis linked arms with Arlea. He’d get to procrastinate his work a little longer even though he knew it would likely take longer for him to do than it would take for Arlea to gather her things to bring them to the palace. Still, he wasn’t going to miss a proper chance to say bye to his future Queen.


	21. Work

Once Arlea left the palace, Louis headed up to his study. There was a pile of letters on his desk. Sighing, he shut the door behind him and sat down. There was almost certainly going to be angry letters in the pile. He'd probably have to reply to everyone and then he'd have to send out more letters announcing his engagement before the announcement was made to the public. Hopefully, the letters would arrive at a similar time to the public would find out.

Picking up the first letter, Louis recognised the seal as Estuair’s; he hoped nothing serious had happened at Rockshore, he didn’t feel like dealing with too much. Usually the lords and ladies only came to him if they couldn’t settle it themselves or if it involved the crown. If it was a problem, that meant it was going to be serious.  After breaking the seal and opening the letter, Louis read through it. Apparently, someone had been trying to get books from the library under the King’s name. Lady Estuair had been suspicious of the man who was claiming to have been sent by the King, since usually Louis wrote to them in advance, and they were just writing to him to check.  Louis was glad they were checking, he had sent no one to fetch any books from the library. Picking up his striped quill, he grabbed some paper and dipped his quill in some ink to start writing his response to inform Lady Estuair that he had sent no one to the library to fetch him any books and that the man may be an Xaviel spy.

When he had finished that letter and was waiting for the ink to completely dry, he opened the next letter and began reading. This was going to be a boring day already, he could feel it.

 

Finally, Louis had finished reading and replying to the letters and he had written to all of the lords and ladies that needed to be made aware of Louis’ engagement to Arlea and that they were seriously fighting Xaviel so every man would help. He must have spent several hours in his study and he was now incredibly bored of his dull surroundings. His hand and wrist were cramping too, the pain had temporarily left when he had eaten his lunch in the dining room but since he had been writing even more in the last hour or so, the pain had come back to seek revenge.

As he headed downstairs to dinner, he could see Arlea talking to Nalia. There was a wide smile on her face as she rambled on to his guard. As he neared the two women, he just smiled and listened to them finish their conversation.  
“How long have you been back?” he asked.  
She shrugged. “A while.”  
“You should have told me,” he said. He could have spent a little time with her. “Did you have lunch here?”  
“I had lunch at home but I was sorting some of my things out with Nalia,” she said with a small smile. Clearly the two were getting along quite well. “Besides, I didn’t want to distract you.”

Louis would have welcomed the distraction with open arms, maybe literally if the distraction was Arlea. “How’s your mother?” Her father was at work, if he remembered correctly.  
“She’s fine, still a little surprised, I think,” said Arlea as she turned from side to side a little, her skirts swished around her feet. “Have you finished all of your work now?”  
Louis nodded. “Yes, I’m fairly certain I have.” It suddenly hit him that he should probably ask Arlea if it was alright to announce their engagement tomorrow as well as tell all of the nobles about it. “I have something to ask you later.”  
“Alright,” she said slowly, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him. “Nalia, would you join us for dinner?”  
Nalia glanced at Louis who gave her a subtle nod. “If you’re sure,” she said, smiling.  
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” said Arlea as she turned to head into the dining room. Louis followed after her, grinning at Nalia. It seemed like the two of them were becoming friends rather quickly.

“Nalia, you don’t happen to know what the name of the footman is?” Louis whispered to her as two footmen walked in with the trays which had their food on.  
She looked over at Louis. “Which one?”  
“Both of them now,” said Louis. He wasn’t expecting for there to be two of them, only the one which had been serving them before.  
“Poe and Dante, Poe is the taller one and Dante is the short ginger,” Nalia whispered back. Dante set the food down in front of Louis and Nalia while Poe set down food in front of Arlea. Roasted mutton, it smelled delicious. He could only imagine what the kitchen smelled like.  
“Thank you, Poe, Dante,” he said with a smile. The two footmen bowed their heads before leaving. He was glad there were no starters today, only on weekends. He’d never be able to eat everything then and it would be such a waste of food. He turned to Nalia. “Thank you.”  
“It’s no problem,” said Nalia with a grin as she took off her gloves and set them aside. “I know you’re terrible with names.”  
“Terrible is quite an understatement,” said Louis. He couldn’t remember how many times he had got Rowan, Rivers and Rattlebird mixed up when he had first started going to the council meetings at fifteen. It wasn’t his fault all of their last names began with the same letter.

“You remembered my name quite well,” said Arlea as she picked some food up with her fork.  
Louis gasped. “So I have,” he said. He hadn’t even realised he had never forgotten her name like everyone else. “I’ve only forgotten Nalia’s name once or twice too.” Although, he had tried hard to remember her name, to the point where he had written her name on his hand with ink.  
“Maybe it’s because we mean a lot to you,” said Arlea before taking a bite of her food.  
“Maybe it is,” he said with a grin as he started eating his own food. He really didn’t want it to go cold, he liked the taste of mutton and roasted potatoes.


	22. Lucky

“What is it you needed to ask?” asked Arlea as she looked out of the drawing room window. It was the same drawing room as always and it gave a city skyline view that was similar to the one in Arlea’s room. The only problem was that the wall was more in the way.  
“I’ll need to send out letters tomorrow morning,” he started, trying to figure out a way to put it lightly. Louis really should have thought about this before he had written the letters, he hadn’t written his speech yet, he could do that tomorrow. “And I’ll have to write a speech tomorrow.” He should have done it today but he had all of those letters to write and his hand still felt a bit sore.  
“Right…?” She turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.  
“They contain information about our engagement and I’ll have to write it into my speech. I can always rewrite the letters tomorrow if you don’t want to tell people yet.”  
“Oh,” she said, furrowing her brow. “Uh…”

“I should have asked first, I know,” he said as he walked over and held her hands in his own. “I forgot, I’m sorry.”  
“I mean, they’re going to find out anyway, right?” she said. Louis relaxed a little, she wasn’t too upset with him. Or, at least, she didn’t seem to be too upset. “I don’t mind. I’d rather tell them now rather than later while we’re trying to organise a wedding and dealing with other things.”  
“Oh,” he said with a small smile on his face. “Are you sure?”  
Arlea nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.” She leaned up to kiss him and he was sure it lasted a few moments longer than last time.

Louis glanced out of the window. The sky was turning a beautiful mix of oranges and pinks that paintings could never quite capture. “We should probably go to sleep soon.”  
Humming, she bit her lip as she glanced out of the window. “Probably, yes,” she murmured.  
“I thought you’d be more angry with me,” he admitted.  
“It would be sort of useless if I was though, wouldn’t it?” she said with a shrug. “I mean, I am a little upset that you didn’t think to ask but I wouldn’t have minded anyway.”

“I promise I’ll ask next time.”  
“Next time you want to announce our engagement?” she asked with a grin. “Are we getting engaged again?”  
“No,” he said, laughing. “You know what I mean, next time I want to announce something about us, I’ll ask you first.” Louis kissed her again and again, it lasted longer than usual. Maybe it was just him, he thought as he let go of one of her hands.  
“I think I might go to bed,” said Louis as he took a step back. “Are you going to come up with me?” Arlea nodded and followed him to the door.

They were still holding hands as they stood in the corridor, between both of their bedroom doors.  
“Goodnight, Louis,” she said with a smile. “Hopefully, I sleep better tonight.”  
“Yes, hopefully,” he said with a smile. He hoped to sleep better too but he wouldn’t be too mad if she woke him up. “Goodnight, my sun.”  
“My sun?” she repeated, giggling a little at the nickname.  
“Yes, because you brighten my day,” he said. It sounded so silly but it was true. He could never stop smiling around her and he felt happier.  
“I like it,” she said with a smile. “Goodnight.”

The kiss was definitely longer this time and he didn’t want it to end. They pulled away from each other and just looked at each other. Her eyes were blue like the sky on a clear and sunny day. He’d never noticed before but there were a few small pox scars near the outside corner of her eye. Their lips met again and Louis felt her hand move to his shoulder.

Glancing at the two guards at the end of the hallway, he looked back at her with a smile on his face. “Do you want to come into my room?”  She nodded and they rushed into Louis’ room, quickly shutting the door behind them. They kissed again and Arlea began moving Louis’ jacket in an attempt to get him to take it off. He happily complied and draped it over the chair.  
“Have you done anything like this before?” he asked. He didn’t want to rush into anything, even if that was sort of what they were doing.  
“No, have you?”  
He nodded. “Yes.”

“With other women?” she asked as she slowly started to unbutton his shirt.  
“Mostly, yes,” he said, watching her with curiosity. “Sometimes with men.”  
Arlea paused for a moment and looked up at him. “I’d hope you know what you’re doing then.”  
“It doesn’t bother you?” Some people hadn’t reacted too well, his mother was the first person, Lord Moore too and his father wasn’t the happiest even if he understood.  
“No, my uncle on my mother’s side isn’t interested in women at all. It’s never bothered me as long as no one’s getting hurt,” she said with a shrug as she carried on unbuttoning his shirt.

Which reminded him… “If you want me to stop doing anything, tell me.”  
“I’ll tell you, promise.”

He felt incredibly lucky.


	23. Late

The sunlight peeking through the curtains woke him up the next morning. Arlea was still asleep so he was careful not to wake her as he climbed out of bed. He smiled to himself, she looked so calm. Louis picked up their clothes and put them on a chair, the maids could deal with them while they were out.

He was mostly dressed when Arlea woke up. He could hear her groan as she rolled over.  
“What are you doing?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes.  
“Getting dressed?” he replied. He thought it was fairly obvious.  
“Why? We don’t know to go anywhere or anything, do we?”  
He chuckled. “Well there’s a council meeting but you don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” he said with a smile as he grabbed his jacket.  
“There’s a council meeting?” she asked with wide eyes.  
Louis nodded and held out his jacket to her. “Do you need to run to your room to get dressed or are you not coming? I can always tell them you’re ill.”  
With red cheeks, Arlea slipped on his jacket. It was big on her which she was thankful for as she buttoned it up. She headed to the doors. “I won’t be long.”

With a grin on his face, Louis headed over to the curtains, he could open them now that she was awake. He pulled his hair back into a ponytail and secured it before heading outside. Barely a minute later, Arlea rushed out, now dressed in a royal blue dress. She smiled as she quickly walked over to him and handed him his jacket. Louis thanked her as he took it and put it on.  
“Shall we head downstairs? We might not have time to eat though,” he said as he headed towards the stairs.  
“I’m sure we’ll live,” said Arlea with a smile. “And I guess it serves us right for not waking up earlier.”  
Louis laughed and nodded. “It does serve us right.” He should have remembered the council meeting. If the council meeting was today, that meant he had to do a speech in front of the gates tomorrow. He sighed, there was going to be an awful lot of guards around to make sure he was safe. Louis’ problem wasn’t with that, he wanted to be safe. The problem was with writing a speech and speaking in front of everyone. It didn’t matter how many times he did it, he’d always feel nervous about it, just like his father did. “We’ll have to announce our engagement too.”

“I forgot that we have to tell people,” she said honestly. “I wish they could all just magically know, it would be so much easier.”  
“It’s a shame there isn’t any magic that can do that,” said Louis as he nodded in agreement. Everyone knowing about their engagement through magic would save a lot of time and effort.  
“Yes, it is,” said Arlea as she pushed open one of the doors to the courtyard separating the North Wing and the South Wing from the East Wing. Louis pushed the other door open and he took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air, it was slightly salty.

“You don’t happen to be good at writing speeches, do you?” asked Louis with a hopeful smile.  
“I like to think that I’m not bad at them, why?”  
“Usually I ask the council to help but I feel like that might not be a good idea at the moment,” said Louis. With all the other things he had to deal with and the other things that the council members had to do, it didn’t seem like a good idea. Everyone was stressed and he didn’t feel like having the entire council argue over a speech. “Would you help me, maybe later?”  
“Sure,” said Arlea with a smile. “I don’t mind helping at all.”  
“Thank you.”

The other council members were already there when they walked in.  
“Apologies for being late, sirs,” said Louis as he pulled his chair and stood in front of it. “Before we start, however, Arlea and I have an announcement to make.”  Lord Rivers smiled at the two, Louis could guess what the man was probably thinking. Sir Oddo raised his bushy eyebrows while Moore looked oddly nervous. Rowan and Rattlebird seemed rather neutral but Arlea smiled at Louis, waiting for him to actually announce it.

“Arlea and I are engaged,” he said with a smile. “We got engaged two days ago.”  
“But sir-” Moore started. He seemed to be the only one voicing his disdain with it.  
“Lord Moore, any problems you have with either us may be discussed with us after the meeting. We’re already late to start as it is due to my tardiness,” snapped Louis. Why did the man care so much about who he chose to marry? Did he want his daughters to marry him that much? “And if you’re going to complain like my mother, I’d rather not hear it at all.”  Thankfully, Moore remained silent. He had a frown on his face but Louis could ignore that.

“Congratulations,” said Lord Rivers with a small smile. Louis smiled back and nodded as he sat down. Arlea quickly followed suit.  
“Yes,” said Oddo, “congratulations to the both of you.”  
“Thank you,” said Louis, smiling a little wider. He wasn’t expecting Oddo of all people to congratulate them and be supportive. Especially considering how much he was against Arlea coming to the council sessions. He hadn’t seemed too bothered about it recently, maybe he had stopped caring. Rowan and Rattlebird congratulated them too.

“Should we get on with the meeting then, sir?” asked Rowan.  
Louis nodded. “Yes, we probably should.”


	24. Vellio

The meeting was like all of the other recent meetings, discussing Xaviel, battle tactics, where they though Xaviel would attack next. There was one somewhat refreshing exception. They no longer needed to talk about him finding someone to marry. Instead, they wanted to know the details of the wedding, what day it was, if they needed to wear certain colours. Neither of them had decided anything yet so their questions on it were a little overwhelming.

Once the meeting was over, most of the council left. Arlea stood and took a step towards the door before realising Lord Moore wasn’t leaving.  
“Lord Moore,” said Rivers as he stood in the doorway. He had a tight-lipped smile on his face and his eyes were narrowed as Moore turned to look at him. “As far as I'm aware, you have no good reason to be against their marriage.”

Lord Moore said nothing and watched Rivers leave. He turned back to face Louis and slowly walked over to him. “Sir-”  
“Lord Moore,” Louis interrupted. He didn’t want to deal with Lord Moore’s confusing behaviour any longer, he wanted to know what the man knew - or thought he knew - about Arlea. “Do you want to explain your problem now or will we be here until the sun sets?”  
“Your Majesty,” the aging man started. Louis narrowed his eyes at the man. He didn’t care about polite courtesies, he wanted Moore to answer him. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to marry someone of such low birth.”  
“Of such low birth?” repeated Louis, noticing Arlea’s narrowed eyes. She was, understandably, not fond of that answer.

“I’ve heard concerns from Lady Whitehall and Lord Estuair that people of lower birth are trying to get more power and money by marrying wealthier citizens,” said Lord Moore. His lips were pursed. “My own wife has expressed some concerns over it.”  
“Of course she has,” Louis muttered to himself as he tucked his chair under the table. “My Lord, your wife is concerned because you both want one of your daughters to be my partner, Lady Whitehall is concerned for the same reason. As for Lord and Lady Estuair, they are very loyal and have expressed no such concerns to me through writing.”  
“Can you guarantee she isn’t dishonest?”  
“It is rare that anyone can truly guarantee anything, my Lord,” he snapped. The man was irritating and infuriating but he needed to remain calm. “If you have no new points, I suggest you leave and rethink your opinions.”

With his head held high, Moore turned on his heels and headed towards the doors. His shoes hit the floor with such a force that Louis was momentarily worried that he might have left marks.  
As soon as the doors shut behind the lord, Louis let out a deep sigh. “I’m getting sick of him, he said something similar last week, that I shouldn’t marry you because my mother wouldn’t like it.”  
“Really?” asked Arlea. She sounded surprised but she shouldn’t be, the rich were just as prejudiced as the poor were, maybe even more so.  
“Yes,” said Louis as he walked over to her. “Unfortunately for him, I don’t particularly like my mother. I like your parents much more.”  
Arlea laughed a little. “They are nice,” she said. Gasping, she carried on speaking. “Which reminds me, you told them they could come here to have dinner with us and they might be able to sometime next week, if that’s alright.”  
“Of course it’s alright,” said Louis with a smile. “They’ll always be welcome here.”  
“Thank you,” she said as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’re too kind.”

Louis’ eyes widened as her stomach rumbled. He laughed a little. “I think we should probably go and get some lunch considering we skipped breakfast.”  
“That sounds like a good idea.”

They linked arms and left the council room behind them. Louis stopped near the fountain for a moment and looked up at the sky. There were only a few white clouds above them. “Would you like to eat lunch outside? It would be a shame to sit inside and not enjoy the sun.”  
“I don’t mind,” she said with a smile. “It is quite a nice day.” A day that was half over since they slept through half of the morning and the council meeting took up the other half.

Juliet greeted them in the kitchen again and promised to send a footman out to bring them some sandwiches, pasties and cakes out for their lunch. Louis thanked her before they left and headed back outside.

The gardens behind the palace were walled in but they could still hear the crashing waves as they walked past statues and fences. There was a section of the gardens that was cut off, surrounded by tall hedges and gates. Louis avoided that, Arlea didn’t need to deal with his ancestors just yet.  They sat on a bench at the edge of a paved square, it had a wooden table with metal legs in front of it. The flowers had bloomed so they were surrounded by bright colours.  
“What do you think of the gardens?” he asked as he took his jacket off. He didn’t realise how warm it was, he had no idea how she was coping.  
“It’s beautiful, your gardeners do a great job,” she said with a smile.  
Louis draped his jacket over the back of the bench. “They do.”

“I feel like I still don’t know much about you,” she admitted as she shuffled a little closer. “Well, I feel like I know you and I know about you but I don’t know any little specifics, any little quirks.”  
“What do you want to know?” he asked. He could happily talk for hours if she wasn’t going to mind.  
“Something interesting.”  
He laughed. “Define interesting, we might have different ideas about that.”  
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. She hummed. “Which hand do you prefer to fight with?”  
“Right,” he said. “I write with my right hand too.”  
“I write with my left, I don’t understand how you write with your right hand, my right hand writing is terrible,” she said with a smile.  
“So is my left hand writing.”

She giggled and he smiled. “What do you think is interesting about yourself?”  
“I really don’t know how to answer that,” he admitted.  
Arlea scoffed. “Come on, surely there’s something.”  
“I can speak another language, if that counts,” said Louis with a shrug.  
Her eyes widened and she nodded. “That definitely counts as interesting.” she seemed so intrigued by it. “I couldn’t speak much until I was three, how do you know two languages?”

“Se vai ories se raise lewo te deo,” he said with a smile.  
She just laughed and shook her head. “That’s amazing but I have no idea what you just said.”  
“I said ‘I learnt when I was sixteen’.”  
“Sixteen? That was only…” She paused as she tried to figure out the maths, “four years ago, right?”  
Louis nodded. “I learnt it when I started praying to the sun, the language is mostly in religious texts or used in church.”  
“That’s still amazing.” She bit her bottom lip. “Could you say something else? Please?”  
He nodded again. “Vetieles, fi sai vellio.” He knew she was going to ask what he said so he translated it for her. “I said, you are beautiful today.”  
Arlea’s cheeks turned red as she smiled. “You really are too nice.”

A man to Louis’ left cleared his throat. The footman. He set the tray of food on the table in front of them and Louis smiled. Which one was he? Without the other footman, Louis had no idea if he was the tall one or the short one. Nalia did say something about the shorter one being ginger…  
“Thank you, Dante. Tell Juliet thank you too,” he said with a smile.  
The footman smiled back and nodded. “Yes, sir.” He didn’t correct him but Louis doubted the footman would correct him anyway since he was the King.

Once the footman disappeared from view, Louis turned to the food. It looked wonderful with sandwiches and some golden pastries and tarts.  
“Strawberry tarts,” gasped Arlea as she picked one up. “They’re my favorite.”  
Louis shook his head a little, he wasn’t too fond of them. “I prefer the lemon ones.” At least he wasn’t the only one who just ate what they felt like instead of always eating the sandwiches first.


	25. Speeches

Once they had finished eating their lunch, Louis grabbed the empty tray and they headed back to the palace together. He handed the tray to a footman who would return it to the kitchen before they headed upstairs.

“You wanted help writing a speech, didn’t you?” asked Arlea.  
“Yes,” said Louis, nodding. “I can get over standing in front of a lot of people and talking but it takes me hours to write half a speech and most of that is just the traditional, polite things that you’re supposed to say.”  
“That makes it sound like there’s a lot of traditional and polite things to say,” she said, laughing a little.  
“That’s because there is, it’s ridiculous but the majority of the council thinks that they’re necessary,” said Louis with a sigh. “But I would appreciate some help, you have a way with words that I don’t really have.”

“I think your writing is wonderful but I’ll help you,” she said with a smile.  
Louis smiled and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, my sun.”  
“It’s fine, you don’t have to thank me.”  
“So would you rather I didn’t do this?” he asked before kissing her cheek.  
Arlea laughed. “No, you can keep doing that.” He hummed and kissed her cheek again.  
“Maybe I should stop,” he said. “We’re never going to write a speech like this. Shall I get a guard to bring a chair to my study for you?” Arlea nodded so Louis asked the nearest guard to fetch an extra chair.

They both stood in the study, both feeling bad about taking the only seat. Once the extra chair arrived, they both sat at the desk with some paper between them and began working on the speech. Louis wrote down all the formalities and the proper way to begin and every so often, Louis would read it out to test if it sounded right and that it would flow properly.

They finished writing the speech just as the sun started to set. Through the study’s window, they could see the darkest part slowly growing darker and creeping across the sky.  
“Should I sleep in my room tonight?” asked Arlea as they walked downstairs to eat something. “Or are we supposed to sleep together now or are we…?”  
“It’s your choice,” said Louis as he sat down at the dining table.  It had been a weird day, he had woken up late, missed breakfast, had lunch a little later than usual and now he was eating dinner a few hours later than usual too. It wasn’t really bad though, not for him. The change was sort of refreshing, always eating at the same time was good but it got repetitive and boring, especially when he was working most days.

“I think I might sleep in my room,” said Arlea as she sat down.  
Louis hummed. “That’s alright.” He didn’t mind too much, it meant he’d probably wake up on time. Maybe he should ask a guard to wake him up at dawn, he’d need to eat and practice the speech a little more before heading down to the gates.  
“Alright then,” said Arlea with a smile. “I think you’ll do fine tomorrow, by the way.”  
“Are you saying that because you wrote at least half of my speech?” he teased.  
She laughed a little as the other footman, Poe, served them their food. “Maybe. Or maybe I just have confidence in you.”  
“You say I’m too nice but you’re too sweet,” Louis said before thanking Poe. He was a lot taller than Dante and he wasn’t ginger. Hopefully, he’d remember their names now.

Once they had finished eating, Arlea excused herself to read in the library while Louis decided to bathe. While sitting in his room, Louis leafed through the two small pages of the speech. His hair was wet and it had been tied up after his bath. He didn't want his shirt getting wet.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Louis stood and slipped his leather bookmark between the pages before heading to the door. Opening it, he smiled as Arlea greeted him.  
“I just wanted to say goodnight,” she said with a smile.  
“I see,” he said. He was also smiling.  
“And… about last night,” she started, blushing a little. Louis smiled a little wider.  
“Yes…?”  
“Thank you, I guess,” she said. “But I’m sorry about all the… being late and everything this morning?”  
“Sorry?” he repeated, furrowing his brow. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have asked someone to make sure we were awake.”

“I… Still, thank you,” she said.  
“I should thank you too, my sun,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Did you have fun reading in the library?”  
“Yes,” she said as she nodded. “I did, what did you do while I was reading?”  
He shrugged. “I just had a bath and I was reading through the speech again.” He would probably read through it all night if he could. Louis knew he would be able to say that speech tomorrow in front of the gates with a crowd and guards around him. But he’d have extra guards and it was more likely someone was going to attack him.

“You need to sleep, Louis.”  
He had to agree. He would have to wake up at dawn and the sun was still just in the sky. “I know. Are you going to sleep in tomorrow?” He didn’t expect her to wake up at dawn with him tomorrow but he was going to ask anyway.  
To his surprise, Arlea shook her head. “No,” she said with a smile. “I want to wake up at dawn with you.”  
“You do?”  
“Yes,” she said. “I want to hear your speech, I did write part of it.”  
She laughed a little and Louis laughed too. “Yes, well there is that,” he said. “But if we’re both waking up early, we might want to sleep.”  
“That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Arlea pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Goodnight, Louis.”  
“Goodnight, my sun,” he said. “Sleep well.”  
“You too.”  
“I can’t promise I will but I’ll try.”  Arlea laughed as she headed to her room. Louis smiled to himself as he shut his door.

He was very lucky to marry her.


	26. Breakfast

As soon as the sun rose above the horizon, there was a footman knocking on his door. With a groan, Louis climbed out of bed and answered the door to the footman. He wasn’t ginger so it was Poe.  
“Good morning, Your Majesty. What would you like for breakfast?”  
Louis rubbed his eyes. “Honestly, I’m too tired to care, something nice will do.”  
“Yes, sir,” said Poe. He looked a little confused. Maybe it was Louis’ response.  
“Is Arlea awake?”  
Poe shook his head. “Not as far as I’m aware.”  
“She wanted to wake up at the same time as me so you might want to knock,” said Louis. Arlea had asked so he hoped she wasn’t too mad, he wouldn’t be too upset if she changed her mind, however, since he was wishing he was asleep too. “I’ll be downstairs in the dining room once I’m dressed.”  
“Yes, sir,” said Poe before he headed down the corridor to Arlea’s room.

Shutting the door, Louis let out a sigh. He’d need to wear a new jacket today. He’d have to dress to his mother’s standards too, there was no doubt she’d be awake he didn’t feel like dealing with her criticisms so early in the morning.

When Louis had finished dressing, he headed out into the corridor. He couldn’t remember if he had heard Arlea walk past, he had definitely heard the footman. Deciding it could hurt anyone, Louis knocked on her door.  
“One moment!” came Arlea’s voice.

A few seconds later, she opened the door. Her face was a little red.  
“Good morning,” Louis greeted with a smile. He wondered why she was so flustered. “Is something wrong?”  
Quickly, she shook her head. “No, no. Well, there’s one button on my dress that I can’t fasten.”  
“Right?” he said slowly. He didn’t quite understand how that led to her being flustered.  
“And… I was wondering if you could button it up?”  
Louis chuckled but nodded. “Of course I can.” Arlea turned around he noticed the button was in the middle of the back and she probably couldn’t reach it. “Maybe we should get you a lady’s maid.”

“I don’t really mind,” said Arlea with a shrug. He fastened the button and she turned back around to face him. “What would they do?”  
“Sort out hair, clothes, baths, things like that.”  
She hummed and nodded. “It would be useful.”

“I’ll let you think on it, shall I?” Arlea nodded and he smiled. “Which reminds me, I was going to have a tailor come in to make me some new clothes and I figured they might as well sort out some new clothes for you.”  
She gasped. “Really? Are you sure?”  
“Why wouldn’t I be?”  
“I don’t know.” Arlea shrugged again as she shut her door behind her.

“Are we going down to breakfast?”  
“Yes.” Louis nodded and linked arms with her as they headed downstairs. “My mother keeps telling me to get a valet, I’m tempted to.”  
“What’s a valet?”  
“The male version of a lady’s maid. Runs baths, deals with clothes and things like that,” he explained. He really was tempted to, it would save him some time and effort but he didn’t really need one otherwise. Maybe it was worth it since he would get to be a little lazy. “I think I will get one, I’ll get to be a bit lazy sometimes.”  
“I think you deserve to be a bit lazy,” said Arlea as they headed into the dining room and sat down. “You worked for most of yesterday and then you have to do a speech and probably work later.”

“I don’t usually work very long hours,” said Louis. Although, truthfully, he could barely remember not working most days. Once he had been crowned, he had a lot of matters to deal with and for the last few months he had been dealing with trying to find someone to marry and trying to deal with Xaviel.  
“If you say so,” she said. He knew she didn’t believe him.

The doors opened again and Louis expected it to be their breakfast. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.  
“Louis, do you have your speech prepared?”  
He refrained from sighing and instead smiled at his mother. “Yes, Arlea and I wrote it yesterday evening.”  
“I see,” she said as she sat opposite the couple. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Arlea looking down at her hands in her lap. “Lord Moore has written to me, he sent a messenger with a letter.”   


“Is that so?” asked Louis, raising his eyebrows in fake curiosity. “Did he say anything interesting?”  
“He mentioned you snapped at him,” his mother said with narrowed eyes.  
“Snapped at him?” repeated Louis. Why did his mother care so much? Was she worried Moore would betray them? He had been friends with his father for decades. “I suppose I did, why?”  
“He was just trying to express concern,” she said with a frown. Louis didn’t fail to notice the disapproving glance at Arlea.  
“Yes, I’ve acknowledged that concern, Mother.”  
“And?”  
“And what?” said Louis as he fixed the left cuff of his jacket. “I’m happy, marrying someone else means that I might not be happy and at the moment, we do not need to make any alliances with anyone. Besides, there are other ways to secure an alliance.”  
“Other ways are not as good,” his mother protested.

“Well, the engagement can’t be called off unless one of us willingly does it. I’m not going to be doing that any time soon,” he said. Louis turned to Arlea just so he wasn’t looking at his mother. Arlea was a beautiful woman, her eyes sparkled in the light. She helped him write a brilliant speech. Or, more accurately, he helped her to write it.  
“I’m not going to call it off any time soon either,” she said, giving him a small smile.  
Louis smiled back before turning to his mother. “I know you are trying to help and I appreciate that. But I have made my choices, Mother.”

“Louis…” Her voice was gentler. “This isn’t the best option for you.”  
“I’m old enough to decide for myself. If I can decide my religion at sixteen and be crowned king at seventeen and a half, I’m fairly sure I can choose who I want to marry,” he said calmly. There was no point arguing anymore than they already had.

Thankfully, their breakfast arrived.


	27. Rising Sun

The sun had almost risen above the palace. Louis stood by the front door, someone would tell him to walk out in a few minutes. The gates would be open, Arlea would be standing there, his mother would be there too, stood next to his future partner.

Future partner..

He could hardly believe it. He would be announcing his and Arlea’s engagement too. A little over a month ago, he had never even heard of Arlea Laurel and now he was going to marry her.

“Sir?”

Louis turned to the source of the voice. Nalia. He would have corrected her but this was a somewhat formal occasion. “Yes?”  
“The sun's just above the palace,” she said. Louis thanked her and gripped the two door handles. He stared at his hands and the door handles for a moment before pulling them open together.

The palace cast a shadow on the path which reached all the way to the gates. Nalia followed Louis out of the doors. There was a crowd of people gathered at the gates. Mostly local lords, a few ladies. There was a lot of people and more guards too. He stood just in front of where the gates would be if they were closed. Nalia stood next to Arlea on his right, near where the metals gates met the stone wall.

Taking a deep breath, he started. “Citizens of Pacifia, I, King Louis, am here today to tell you of important matters of which there are four.

“The first of which is on the matter of equality. No woman has been able to vote in this country unless they were a queen. If there are no problems encountered, women aged sixteen and over will be able to vote.” Louis glanced at Arlea who smiled at him. He had decided that the voting should not be limited to the city, it would cause problems anyway, people would travel to the city if they wanted to vote. “They will also be able to vote on the vote next week, which is the second matter. On the fifth day of the next week, the public will be allowed to vote on restricting the size, species and amount of fish taken from our waters.

“The third matter to address is that in compliance to Pacifia’s law, I will marry within the year. I am delighted to announce that I am engaged to a Miss Arlea Laurel.” Looking to his right again, he smiled at Arlea. Nalia was smiling too but her hand rested near the throat of her scabbard, ready to grab it if needed. There were whispers in the crowd, he hadn’t noticed if there were any before. “We hope to marry within the next few months.

“This brings me to the last of the matters, which is not so pleasant.” The words didn’t want to leave his mouth, or maybe it was he was trying to hold onto the denial for a little while longer. “Xaviel is trying to invade Pacifia.” Any whispers stopped. “There was a battle at the border, if they attack, we will declare war. I urge any healthy man, who is able, enlists in our army, the Kingdom will be thankful of it.

“We will not lose our freedom to those who we fought to gain it from.” He could see Lord Rivers stood next to Lord Rowan and his son. There would certainly be things to discuss in the next council session. “I thank you all for gathering here, on this morning. I wish you all a good day and safe travels.”

Louis let out a deep breath. It was over. The announcements had ended on a chilling note. He could hear the sombre tone of the crowd’s whispers. He took a step backwards and turned on his heels, gesturing for Arlea to come over to him with his hand as he slowly started walking back towards the palace.

“Are you alright?” asked Arlea as she linked arms with him. Nalia followed Louis back to the palace, keeping several feet away from the couple so they could have their privacy while being protected.  
“I think so.”  
She raised her eyebrows. “Think?”  
“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “We’re going to be at war whether we are prepared or not. I hope we’re more prepared than we currently are. We can’t make any more stupid mistakes like sending soldiers away from castles again.”  
“We’re probably not going to know if they’re stupid actions until after they’ve happened,” said Arlea. War was unpredictable. The best they could do was take educated guesses at what Xaviel’s moves would be.  
Louis frowned. “And that’s a rather large problem.”  
“Yes, it is,” she agreed.

The palace doors were shut by other guards as soon as Nalia stepped through them. Louis stopped walking and so did Arlea.  
“Thank you, Nalia,” he said with a small nod.  
“It’s my job,” she said, faltering slightly as she almost added on ‘sir’. “It was a good speech, they seem happy at your engagement.”

“And scared at the prospect of war,” said Louis. He couldn’t blame them for being scared, he was feeling the same way. “Arlea wrote most of it but thank you.”  
“I only helped you,” said Arlea with a small smile.  
“Only? Without you, I probably wouldn’t have had a speech, not a good one, at least,” he said, laughing a little. It was true, there had been quite a few times where he would be writing the speech until the moment he had to walk out of the palace doors.  
Arlea just smiled a little wider. “I’m glad I helped.”

“Is there anything you need me to do?” Nalia asked sheepishly. She probably didn’t want to interrupt them.  
Louis thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Nothing I know of right now, you may rest or train or… do whatever until I need you, I suppose.”  
Nalia nodded. “I’ll be training or in the kitchens if you need me,” she said before turning and heading towards a different set of doors that lead to outside the palace.

Louis felt Arlea let go of his arm, only to take his hand and gently squeeze it.  
“We're going to be at war soon, aren't we?”  
He nodded. “Probably.”  
“That scares me,” she said honestly, frowning as she spoke.  
Louis turned to her and gently squeezed her hand. “It scares me too.”


	28. Awkward Conversation

“Have you set a date for your wedding yet?” asked Louis’ mother as she tapped the table. Louis wasn’t sure if he was going to cope with her eating dinner with them.  
“Not yet,” he said. His mother was tapping her neatly filed nails on the table.  
“Your father and I were in an arranged marriage,” she said. Louis could sense it was the start of something else.  
“I know.” There wasn’t much love between his parents but his father was faithful as far as he was aware, he wasn’t so sure about his mother but she’d always denied anything.  
“Yes, well, the woman who organised our wedding might be a good option to consider.”  
He hummed. “We’ll talk on it, mother.”

Thankfully, his mother was satisfied with that answer, for now. She turned her hazel eyes to Arlea. “What does your father do?”  
“He’s a blacksmith,” Arlea said rather quietly. She seemed nothing like the woman he knew, perhaps it was nervousness causing her meekness.  
“A blacksmith?” Arlea nodded. The Queen Dowager hummed. “I see.”  
Louis was thankful his mother said nothing else on the subject of her father’s job. “He’s a lovely man.”

“I imagine it came as quite a surprise to your parents.” Was his mother ignoring him or did she not have anything to say about his own words? “Being engaged to the King and moving out on the same day.”  
“Definitely a surprise,” she said, nodding a little. “But they’re happy for me.”  
“I’m sure they are,” said his mother. “I do however, have one question.”  
“Oh? What is it?” She looked surprised to be asked something else.  
“A servant mentioned to me that you get ill quite often.”

Louis could see Arlea’s smile drop. “Mother-”  
“I’m just asking a question, Louis. Is it true that you get ill often?” Hesitantly, Arlea nodded. “That leads me to another question, how do we know you are fit to bear children?”  
Arlea stuttered. “Bear children?”

Louis felt like there was some irony in scolding his mother about inappropriate dining topics after all the times she scolded him for it. “Mother, that is not a topic to be discussed while waiting for dinner at the dining table.”  
“The whole point of marrying within the time frame is so you have an heir, what is the use of it if she cannot give you a child?” said the Queen Dowager as she put on hand on top of the other on the table.

Louis had hoped his mother had begun to change her opinion on their marriage. Apparently she hadn’t changed her opinion too much, only to find a new reason to dislike it. Or, she had simply switched which of her reasons she talked about.  
“Well the old Kings and Queens never passed a law away having an heir within any time frame,” said Louis. He was still fairly certain they weren’t thinking clearly at all when they made decisions. Some laws were ridiculous but were not able to be abolished due to ‘tradition’ according to the council members. “And what do you mean, what use is it?”  
“It’s a waste of money and time and effort to marry someone who can’t give you a child, Louis,” said his mother. That had been his father’s reasoning for not liking Louis’ interests in men.  
“I’ve told you, I have made my decision. We have made our decision.”  
“What reason are you marrying her for if not so you can stay as the King and have an heir?” she asked, gesturing to Arlea. Arlea looked uncomfortable, Louis wished they could both leave.

The doors opened. Two footmen brought them their food on silver trays and plates.

“I love her.”

“What?” The Queen Dowager’s voice was high pitched and almost painful to listen to.  
“You might not understand it, but I do,” said Louis. Glancing at Arlea, he could see her smile as she looked at him.  
“Royals do not get to marry for love, you should not get married for love. You need an heir and if you can strengthen an alliance with a noble house then that’s for the better.” It still involved Lord Moore’s so-called concern.  
“Yes, I do get to marry for love,” Louis said, his voice was sharp. Why was his mother and Lord Moore so adamant about ending the marriage between them, they hadn’t even been engaged for a week, only a few days. “And I will marry Arlea because I love her.”

Originally, it was because he had to marry and he found Arlea great company. Even then, he realised, he was smitten with her. Maybe she didn't feel exactly the same way, it was rare mutual feelings were identical, but she accepted his proposal for some reason. She might have felt obliged to say yes because he was the King, although he hoped that wasn't the reason. She might have just wanted to help him out as a friend or she could have had seen him as someone she wanted to be more than friends with. Louis hoped Arlea hadn't felt obliged to marry him but he wasn't entirely sure on the reasons. She did say she was partly doing it to help him out as a friend, she also said that stronger feelings might develop towards him and that meant she had some.

As he looked at Arlea, he smiled. She looked shocked, understandably. After a second, she smiled as her cheeks turned red.

Maybe his feelings were still infatuation but he was almost certain Arlea had some stronger feelings towards him, especially after their night together.

“You don't know anything about love, you’re young,” said his mother after a while. He was twenty, most people didn’t consider it young, not unless they were over fifty. His mother was only a few years over forty.  
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But you would never know.”

His mother stayed silent this time.


	29. Meaningful Gift

After dinner was finished, Louis left rather quickly. His mother hadn’t said anything else but the way she looked at Arlea, it infuriated him. How could she be so disgusted by it and so hateful?  
“Louis!”

Arlea.

He stopped on the stairs and turned to look at her. Letting out a sigh, he felt so stupid. She hurried up the stairs to him and stood on the same step.  
“I’m sorry,” he said. He shouldn’t have rushed out. “I shouldn’t have rushed out, I know.”  
“It’s fine. I have something for you,” she said as she took his hand and moved up a step.  
“Something for me?” He furrowed his brow.  
Smiling, she nodded. “Yes, well, you said we had to give each other a meaningful gift. You gave  me your badge and before dinner I finished my present for you.”

How had he completely forgotten about that?

“Before dinner? I…” he trailed off. “What is it?”  
She grinned as she moved up a step again. “I’ll show you.”

Louis followed her and waited outside her room while she headed inside. What was the gift? He had no idea what she could give him, he had completely forgotten about it for the last few days.  
Arlea emerged from her room with one hand behind her back. She was holding something. “What do you think it is?” asked Arlea with a small smirk.  
Shrugging, he shook his head. “I don’t know.” It could be a book and or something. That meant she would have left to get it or sent a guard or messenger boy to get it. But she said she had finished it before dinner…

“I hope you like it, I started it quite a while ago now and I never got round to finishing it until today,” she said. As she spoke she moved her hand from behind her back to reveal a book. Not the type of book he was expecting with stories or information in but a blank one with pages he could write in.  
“You made this?” He took the book from her hand, it was heavier than he expected and it was quite small. The leather was a dark red colour had gold foil decorating the corners with gold corner protectors. In the centre was a sun, one that looked like the sun on his badge. “This is beautiful, thank you.”  
“I always meant to make it for myself but I don’t really need it and I needed to give you a gift anyway, so…”

Louis opened the book with a smile. ‘For Louis’ was written at the top of the first page. The rest of the pages were blank, he could write whatever he liked in it. “This is incredible,” he said as he closed the book again. “I’d forgotten about the gift part but… this is truly beautiful. Thank you, again.”  
“It’s no problem,” she said. “I’m glad you like it.”  
“I love it,” he whispered with a small smile. “May I kiss you?”  
“Yes.” She nodded before leaning up to kiss him. It felt like everything slowed down for a moment.

Louis’ voice was breathy as he spoke. “I love you.”  
“I think I love you too.”  
Desperately, he tried to find words but there was nothing good enough to say to her. “Fi sai leo telcais.”  
“Huh?”  
“You are an angel,” he whispered. She blushed as looked down at the book in his hands.  
“You’re too nice,” she said. “What are you going to write in it?”

“I don’t know yet.” Maybe he could keep a diary. He was likely to forget it though and he did want to use it. Maybe he wouldn't forget if it was in this notebook, or if someone reminded him. “I might keep a diary. I always forgot before though so I'm not sure.”  
“I could remind you, at dinner or something, if you'd like,” she offered with a small smile.  
Louis smiled and nodded. “I would like that, thank you so much.”  
“It’s truly not a problem,” she said.

Louis kissed her cheek. “May I ask you something?”  
“You already have,” she said with a grin and Louis laughed at the joke. “But go on.”  
“Would you sleep with me tonight?” he asked. Seeing her surprised expression, Louis elaborated on his words. “Not… not sexually just… just actually sleeping next to each other. I don’t mind if you say no.”  
“I…” She trailed off and shrugged her shoulders. “Like a married couple?”  
Hesitantly, Louis nodded. “Yes but I really don’t mind if you say no.” Maybe he shouldn’t have asked, it was a bit sudden and a little random.  
“No, I’d like to,” she said a little quickly. “Maybe just for one night though, I’m not quite sure I’d want to do it every night.”  
“Really?” he asked, not quite believing she had agreed. “That’s… that’s fine, that’s alright, I’m glad you’re even agreeing to it even just for tonight.”

“It might be for a few nights other than tonight,” she said with a smile. “I just… I’d rather just try first, I mean, I know we’re going to get married but… I don’t know.”  
“That’s alright,” said Louis. He knew she wasn’t going to explain everything to him, even if she wanted to, it might be difficult to put into words. “But thank you, again.” He was lucky to even know her.  
“Stop thanking me,” she said, her cheeks tinting pink as she laughed. “It’s not a problem, honestly. You don’t need to thank me.”

Louis realised that was probably what he sounded like to Nalia. He just smiled. “Do you have anything to do before you go to sleep?”  
Arlea shook her head. “Not really. Although, a bath might be nice.”  
“Would you like me to find a maid to help you?” he asked.  
She nodded. “Yes, that would be appreciated.”

Louis headed to the guard at the end of the corridor and sent the guard to find a maid to run a bath for Arlea. Thankfully, he returned relatively quickly. This guard was better than the last he had spoken to, especially since the last one had been sleeping instead of working and making sure no one was sneaking around and being near their rooms when they weren’t supposed to be there.


	30. Surprise Attack

Louis made sure he and Arlea were early to the next council meeting, especially since they were rather late the last time. Arlea sat on his right, as usual. Lord Moore was, surprisingly, the first to arrive.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” he said as he sat down. Louis replied with a simple  ‘good morning’ and Lord Moore said nothing else afterwards.  Lord Rowan and Lord Rivers arrived together which wasn’t the most unusual, even if they hadn’t been arriving together as often, as of late. Louis guessed it was because of his niece and the new member of their family. Apparently, both his niece and the baby were doing well.  Sir Oddo arrived next with Sir Rattlebird shortly after. They had frowns engraved on their faces. Something was wrong, he could feel the sombre waves emanating from them.

“Now that everyone is here, I’m sure we can start,” said Louis. He looked at the two knights who exchanged a glance. “What news is there?”  
“I received word this morning, Your Majesty, that Balo Keep has been attacked. It fell in the early hours of the morning. The letter arrived just before I came here,” said Rattlebird. He looked down at the table, he seemed afraid to look Louis in the eye.

Sighing, Louis pushed a few strands of his hair out of his eyes. “How many dead?” This meant he’d have to announce war, he had announced it in speech, he had to keep to his word.  
“Roughly two thousand on our side, we think around three thousand on theirs, our men fought well.”  
“And deserters?” asked Lord Moore quietly.  
“At least three or four hundred, we think maybe five hundred in total,” said Sir Oddo. He clasped his hands together on the table in front of him. “There were about 100 deserters on their side.”

“So the inhabitants of Balo Keep are prisoners now,” muttered Louis. “No one sends any messages to that Keep until we know it has been reclaimed.”  
“Of course, sir,” said Oddo, nodding in agreement. “We can’t risk the enemy seizing any of our letters.”  
“I’ll write to the other lords later, do we know if Lady Balo and her sons are alright?”  
“They’re demanding ransom money, sir,” said Rattlebird as he pulled two letters from his pocket. He set them on the table and Louis reached forward to grab them.

One was from Lady Balo, telling them to surrender since the Keep had been taken. As he read through it, he realised it was something one of the Xaviel people had forced her to write. It sounded nothing like Lady Balo. The other letter, as Rattlebird said, was from a General Korit who wanted ransom money and surrender.  
“This isn’t like her writing,” said Louis, shaking his head. “Do we need to give them the money or can we risk leaving them as prisoners?”  
“Leaving them as prisoners sounds like a bad idea, Your Majesty,” said Moore with a frown.  
“Actually,” said Rowan, “maybe it’s not a bad idea. If they are being treated well and there’s not much of a threat, we could use the money elsewhere, for training soldiers or getting them new armour or weapons.”

“We can’t tell from letters if they’re being treated well,” Arlea said with a frown. “Not really. I mean, we can’t see if they’re being treated well.”  
“Maybe we could send a spy? Or two?” suggested Rivers. “I don’t know if Xaviel is looking for spies though, it might not be the safest.”  
“Being a spy is dangerous,” scoffed Moore. “They would know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Louis hummed as he set down the letters. “Is there any way of storming the Keep? Would that be… not easier but better than paying them?”  
“With our armies?” Oddo frowned and shook his head. “Not likely.”  
“We should be thankful it’s Balo Keep and not Rivergate or Highview, we’d have a chance.” And Rivergate was the only big crossing across the River Aria. Thankfully, it was a lot bigger than Balo Keep and had a lot more men protecting it. Highview, on the other hand, was smaller than Rivergate but trying to get to the castle itself was a daunting task.

“What can we do other than sending in spies?” asked Louis, pushing his hair out of his eyes again. Why couldn’t it just grow and be long enough to tie out of the way?  
“Not much, sir,” said Oddo with a sigh. “Balo Keep is surrounded by Xaviel men, we don’t have a chance.”

“What are the nearest castles there?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the table. They could send more men there to defend them.  
“Bor Castle, Jay Castle and Aria Fort,” said Rivers. He knew the lands quite well, even if his family lived a little further away. “Rivergate has a lot of men, some are probably more needed at Bor Castle.”  
That was one castle dealt with. He watched Rivers pull a scrap of paper from his pocket and a charcoal pencil to note down what he needed to do. “Tell your brother to send as many soldiers as he can down to Bor. Could Highview send reinforcements to Jay and Aria?”  
“Maybe one,” said Rattlebird with a shrug. Rowan passed the letters back to him. “But not both, there’s not enough soldiers.”  
Louis clicked his tongue. They needed more soldiers but that meant finding men and training them. That took time. “Jay is closer to Highview, right?” Rowan and Rivers nodded. “But there’s less people there and Aria is closer to the river.” Highview couldn’t send men to Aria Fort by boat, the River Aria was too narrow and too far from Highview.”

“So it’s a question of which we choose to protect?” Arlea asked. Nodding, Louis looked over at her. She was frowning, she didn’t like it either.  
“Jay is closer to Highview, it would be easier, Your Majesty,” said Moore. “The soldiers would be less fatigued and more ready to fight.”  
“Aria Fort is more defensible, it’s larger and there’s more people there,” protested Rowan. Of course, Rowan would take offense to it, his wife’s sister was the Lady of Aria Fort. But Rowan had a point, there were more people there. The surrounding town was larger and there were a lot more crops grown there.

“Rowan is right, we have to protect more people,” said Louis. He could see Arlea nodding in agreement. “There’s no point fighting for this land if we risk losing so many of its people.”  
“So we’re just going to send more troops to the nearby castles?” said Moore. “What if they attack elsewhere?”  
“Highview is the one halfway up a mountain, isn’t it?” asked Arlea. Rowan nodded. “Well, it sounds like only idiots would try to attack Highview and if Rivergate has a lot of soldiers there, they’d have to attack it which wouldn’t work because of how good their defenses are. They’d lose a lot of men and that sounds like a rather stupid thing to do. Unless there are other castles along the border, those castles are the most likely place they’ll attack.”  
“The other castles there are small and abandoned,” said Rivers, nodding in agreement. Rivercross is ruins now and that’s the largest one. There aren’t any other worthy castles to attack. The others would be a waste of effort.”

“It’s decided then, Lord Rivers shall write to his brother and tell him to send reinforcements to Bor. I’ll also send him a letter on the matter. Sir Oddo, could you write to Highview?” Oddo was the only one out of the seven of them who had been there. “I’ll write to them as well but they know you.”  
“Yes, sir,” said Sir Oddo with a nod and a proud grin.

“Are there any other problems we need to discuss?” asked Louis. He hoped there wasn’t, his stomach was starting to rumble. His eyes lingered on Moore as he added, “Preferably ones that are not related to opposing mine and Arlea’s marriage.”

It was silent. Except for his own fingers tapping the table.

“I don’t think there’s any,” said Arlea as she placed her hand on top of his. Louis stopped tapping and looked at her, a small smile on his face.  
“You have to hold court in a few days, sir,” said Lord Rivers. “Would you like Lord Rowan and I to be present again?”

Court.

He had completely forgotten about holding court.

“Oh, yes,” said Louis, nodding. “Who is it this time?”  
“A Danver Tailor, he’s killed men, women and children at both Rockshore, Rivergate and Elia,” said Lord Moore. Louis hummed, Danver Tailor must be held at Lord Moore’s castle if he knew about it.  
“There’s also the Xaviel spies, from the market,” Oddo added on. He said it rather quietly compared to his usual volume. With any luck, court would be rather short this month.  
“And that’s all?” asked Louis.

“You’ll be announcing war soon, right, sir?” asked Rattlebird.  
Hesitantly, Louis nodded. “I’ll do it within the week.” That was another thing he would have to write. “In any case, thank you for attending, I wish you all safe travels. This King’s Council session is over.”


	31. Strawberry Tarts

No one stayed back after the meeting. Louis was glad, he just wanted to distract himself with what had happened. He did need to write more letters, maybe he should do that first.  
“Are you alright?”  
Louis hummed as he looked to Arlea. “I don’t know.”  
“You need to write those letters, right? Are you going to write them now?” she asked as she held the door open for him.  
He thanked her as he walked through and watched the door shut behind them. “I probably should, even if I don’t want to.”  
“At least it will be done though, right? It’s better to sort everything out now rather than later.” She was frowning.

“Are you alright?” he asked. Hopefully, she wasn’t too worried about something.  
Arlea shook her head. “This is… I… It’s a lot. I’m not used to this, any of this. All of the food and all the guards and the library. I’m not complaining but it’s just a bit much.”  
Louis wasn’t expecting her to be so honest about it. He was glad it wasn’t the battles and the war. “Is there anything I can do?”  
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I… I’m just not used to all the new people all the new things. Would I be able to have lunch in my room?”  
“Of course you can,” he said, not hesitating for a moment. “I can ask the cooks to bring it up if you’d like.”  
“I’d rather you bring it up.” She spoke quietly, her voice wavered.  
“If that’s what you want,” he said. He had no problem with bringing her lunch to her if she was too uncomfortable to eat in the dining room. “If there’s anything else I can do, just ask.”  
Arlea nodded. “I will, thank you. I’ll still come to the council meetings. I just… I don’t feel too well.”

“Shall I walk with you to your room?”  
Quickly, Arlea nodded. “Yes please.”

They headed upstairs to her room without talking anymore. It felt awkward to him. He wished there was a way to help more as they walked, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander.

Was all of her illnesses poxes and diseases and sicknesses like that? Or was there more to why she never left her home often?

He hoped maybe one day she’d trust him enough to tell him.

It didn’t take long to reach Arlea’s room. They stood by the doors and Louis cleared his throat. “Is there anything you’d like for lunch?”  
“Just a sandwich, maybe some of those strawberry tarts or something,” she said. Louis noticed that the thread she usually pulled on her dress was getting longer.  
“I’ll tell Juliet for you,” he said, smiling a little. “I’ll bring it up when it’s ready for you.”  
“Thank you, Louis,” she said before kissing his cheek.  
“It’s not a problem,” he said, smiling as he watched her disappear behind the doors of her room. He stared at the decorated doors for a few moments before heading down the corridor.

There had to be something else he could do to help, he just didn’t know what.  He supposed telling Juliet what she wanted for lunch and bringing it up to her would be a start.

“Do you think you’ll need to get a healer, sir?” asked Juliet as she put the strawberry tarts into the over.  
“I hope not,” said Louis. Hopefully, Arlea would feel better soon and less overwhelmed by everything. “I’m sure she’ll be fine within a few days.”  
Juliet began making a sandwich with the bread she had taken out of the oven. “Lord Moore’s daughter is visiting tomorrow, isn’t she?”  
Louis nodded, he had almost forgotten about that. He’d have to tell Arlea about it too. “Yes, she is.”  
“Is there anything she doesn’t like?”  
Louis shrugged. “I’ll ask her and tell you when she and I actually talk.”

Juliet laughed a little, Louis wasn’t sure what she was laughing at but he smiled. Juliet put the sandwiches on a tray and then checked on the tarts. “Not long left, sir. Sorry you have to wait.”  
“No, it’s fine,” he said as he made a somewhat dismissive gesture with his hand. “I’d rather wait down here than start working and be disrupted.”  
“Is there anything you’d like for dinner, sir?”  
Louis hummed. He wasn’t going to eat pork, he didn’t feel like it. He’d had mutton rather recently too. “Maybe venison, do we have venison?”  
“We can buy some if we don’t, sir,” said Juliet with a warm smile.  
Louis smiled back. “Venison it is then. Thank you, I’ll see if Arlea would like the same. She might want her food taken up to her room again.”

Juliet pulled out the tarts, they were finally ready. She moved them onto the tray. “She might want to let them cool down a bit if you take them up now.” She poured some water into a ceramic cup and set it on the tray before picking up the tray and handing it to Louis.  
“I’ll be sure to tell her,” he said as he took the tray, careful not to spill the drink. “This is going to be harder than it looks, isn’t it?”  
Juliet grinned as she nodded. “Yes, sir.”  
“Joy,” he muttered as he slowly headed to the door. “Thank you again, Juliet.”  
She rushed to hold the kitchen doors open for him. Laughing, Louis thanked her again. He had no idea how he was going to knock on Arlea’s door and tell her that he had her lunch.

It took a while to get up both sets of stairs to reach the top floor. Frequently, he stopped completely to push the sandwich or tarts back onto the tray when there were almost falling off of it.  Eventually, Louis reached the doors of Arlea’s room and attempted to balance the tray with one hand as he knocked. As soon as he knocked on the  door, he felt the tray starting to slide and quickly grabbed it so it wasn’t balancing on the palm of one hand.

A few moments after steadying the tray, Arlea opened the door. She was no longer in her dress but in the silk chemise she usually wore underneath. Louis wasn’t expecting that at all but clearly, she wasn’t going to be eating dinner downstairs.  
“Your lunch, my Sun,” he said, holding the tray out to her. “It’s harder to carry than I thought it would be.” He didn’t know how the footmen managed it.  
She managed to smile a little as she took the tray. “Thank you, Louis.”  
“It’s no problem,” he said. “We - meaning my mother and I - will be having venison for dinner, would you like me to bring it up for you again?”  
“If it’s not disrupting you then…”  
He spoke a little too eagerly. “Not at all.”  
Slowly, Arlea nodded. “I’d like it if you brought it up for me again then.”  
“I’ll bring it up then.”

She smiled a little as she nodded again. Retreating into her room, Arlea shut the door. Louis stared at it for a moment and turned on his heels to walk down the corridor for the second but probably not the last time. He smiled to himself for a few moments, he liked seeing her but hated seeing her so… ill.

His smile melted as he realised how much work he had to do.


	32. Lord Moore's Daughter

Louis hadn’t finished writing his letters by dinner, he had to continue the dull task afterwards. Once he and his mother had finished their dinner with no snide comments, Louis headed to the kitchen to grab the food Juliet had been keeping warm.  It took a little longer for Arlea to open her door this time but Louis convinced himself it was nothing. She was probably making a book or something like that.

For breakfast the following day, it took a little longer then too. When she finally opened the door, it looked like she had barely slept.  
“Are you alright?” He knew the answer was no and that she probably wasn’t going to tell him that but he still asked anyway.

She didn’t answer and it fell to an awkward silence.

“Lord Moore’s daughter is visiting today. I’d like it if you’d accompany me but if you’re ill, I understand why you can’t,” he said. Louis knew his phrasing was a little off but he hoped his point was clear.  
“I… I’m staying up here.”

“I might be able to bring up lunch, is there someone else you wouldn’t mind bringing the food up for you?”  
Arlea frowned. “Nalia,” she said quietly.  
Smiling, Louis nodded. “I’ll ask Nalia before Lord Moore’s daughter arrives.” She’d be here soon.. “I hope you feel better soon.”

After whispering her thanks, Arlea took her breakfast and disappeared behind the doors again. Louis looked down at the floor beneath him. He wished there was something he could do.

“Sir!” Louis looked up and turned to look at the red-faced footman. “Lord Moore’s daughter is here.”  
Louis started heading towards the footman and the stairs immediately. “What’s her name?” he asked as he headed down them.  
“Elizabeth, sir,” said the footman as he followed. “Is there anything you need?”  
“I don’t think so but thank you, Marc,” said Louis. The footman showed him to the drawing room where Elizabeth was waiting. It was the same one he had met Arlea in a few weeks ago. It had been almost a month and that was a strange thought.

Louis greeted Elizabeth Moore with a smile. “Good morning, Miss Moore.” Her hair was dark, like her father’s, and it fell in waves that almost reached her hips.  
“Good morning, Your Majesty.” She stood and curtsied in front of him and Louis was struck with sudden discomfort. It had been a while since anyone had done that, he still disliked the formality of everything. He just wanted to get things done, there was no need to bow or have a specific ending for every council session.  
“You’re earlier than I expected,” he said, laughing a little.  
“My father was insistent I was going to be late if I left any later, sir,” she said, her cheeks were a little red.  
“I see,” said Louis. “Would you like to go into the gardens? It would be such a shame to be inside when it’s a sunny day.”

They walked through the gardens together, past the fountains and bright flowers in bloom. The peaceful sound of flowing water was interrupted by the clashing of metal on metal. They were near the training grounds, where Nalia could usually be found. Louis and Elizabeth passed through an arch in the hedge and entered the training area of the palace grounds. Nalia was sparring with one of the newer guards. Her face was red and she wasn’t wearing her full armour, it was too warm for that. The blunt sword was held to the young man’s neck as he was sprawled across the grass a few seconds later.

“They seemed talented,” Elizabeth remarked with a small smile.  
Humming, he nodded. “Yes, that’s the reason she’s my personal guard.”  
“She?” Elizabeth didn’t sound outraged as most people did, more surprised that it was a woman. “I’d never have known.”

The woman who they were talking about walked over to them, sheathing the blunt sword as she did so.  
“Sir,” Nalia greeted, bowing her head. It didn’t matter how many times he told her not to do it, she’d do it anyway. “Miss.”  
“Nalia, this is Miss Elizabeth Moore. Elizabeth, this is Nalia.”  
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Moore,” said Nalia, bowing her head a little. Her fingers pulled her pale blond hair away from her forehead as she turned to Louis.

“Are you sparring today, sir?”  
“No, I think not.”  
“Why not?” asked Elizabeth as her eyes lingered on Nalia. “Don’t I get to see you win?”  
He laughed. “You might see me lose spectacularly and we can’t have that.”  
“Lose?” asked Elizabeth with her eyebrows raised. “Why would you lose? Unless she’s better than you.”  
“Definitely better than me,” said Louis. Nalia gave him a tantalising grin. “I don’t need to prove that I’m worse than you, not again.”

“Well,” said Elizabeth with a sigh. “Could I at least see her spar someone again? You did so well.”  
Glancing at Elizabeth, Louis nodded. “If any of the other guards are willing to.”  
“There’ll be someone, I’m sure.” Nalia nodded in agreement as she went to spar with the next guard.

As they watched, Louis noticed Elizabeth intently watching Nalia’s every move, every lunge, every attack, every block. They ended up watching Nalia spar a few more guards than one and Louis didn’t mind at all, it saved any awkward conversations.

When lunch arrived and Marc came outside to tell Louis that Arlea’s lunch was ready, Louis left Elizabeth to watch Nalia spar with and train some of the guards while he headed upstairs. Marc’s eyes watched Nalia too.  
She looked paler this time. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright? I can send for a healer if you’d like?”  
“I’ll be fine,” she said as she took the tray but her eyes had lost the pretty sparkle he was so used to seeing. Louis felt like he had taken it for granted and he felt the same about her smile. It looked forced as she shut her doors again.

He had to do something. Whether it was getting a healer or just talking properly with her, he had to do something.

As he headed back outside to meet up with Lord Moore’s daughter again, thoughts of concern for Arlea seeped in. They flooded his mind with worry for her, what if she stopped eating? What if she hadn’t been eating everything at all?  
“Are you alright, sir?” asked Nalia. She had been talking with Elizabeth, they seemed to have been getting along well until he had interrupted.  
Louis nodded. “Yes, a little worried for Arlea but I’m sure she’d be fine.”  
Elizabeth frowned. “I hope she’s alright, you’re engaged, aren’t you?” Louis nodded. “Congratulations, sir, my father mentioned it.”  
“Thank you.”

“I hope she gets well soon,” said Elizabeth as she glanced at Nalia again. “I should go home about now. Thank you, for coming over. It was interesting to watch you fighting. It’s been oddly fun, I never expecting it. You’re very good, Nalia.”  
“Thank you, Eliza,” said Nalia with a grin.

Eliza?

The two had been getting along well then.

“Shall I walk with you to your carriage?” he asked Elizabeth. She nodded and they began walking. Afterwards, he needed to start working on his announcement, he had a few days and it seemed like he would be getting no help from Arlea this time.


End file.
